Zoids: Tales of the Scavenge team
by TeeJeh
Summary: The story of an aspiring young Zoid pilot, Bael, who is attempting to enter a Zoids battle tournament. Takes place a year after the events of New Century timeline and has some elements of the battle story. Mostly OC with cameos from the original cast. Rated for giant robotic animal-based violence.
1. Bael's beginning

**Zoids: Tales of the Scavenge team.**

**Chapter 1: Bael's beginning**

**A very late Happy new year everybody! I hope you like this story. There will be some inconsistencies with the anime made to make the story better, it is also slightly mixed in with the battle story in later chapters. I have planned that every chapter be about 12,000 words long and that there would be at least 26 chapters, the same as the number of episodes as New Century. Some parts are a little choppy, I really lost my will to write a few times, but, I'm just disracting you from reading. I do not own Zoids or any of the canon characters that appear in this story. Remember to let me know what can be changed or improved. Now without further adieu, enjoy the story, and all that good stuff.**

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><p><em>Organized under strict rules and regulations, Zoids battles are fighting competitions held on enormous battlefields using mechanical combat units known as Zoids. The enthusiastic young warriors put their pride on the line, and sharpen their skills against one another. Battlemode approved. Area scanned. Battlefield set up. Ready? FIGHT! <em>

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><p>Across a desolate lifeless desert on planet Zi, a Gustav Zoid was making quick time for a Zoid of it's type. It had a unique paint job, it's shell was cyan while the head and antenna were blue. It's back transport trailers were empty, save for a lot of heavy lifting apparatus in the back one. Inside the cockpit it's sat it's pilot. A young man around the age of seventeen with short redish-brown hair and a gray vest over a blue shirt and some black sweat pants. He was a desert scavenger, a guy who made a living off of what he could find and sell in the desert, usually in past Zoid battlefields. His name was Bael Comet, and he was happily cheering himself on.<p>

"WOOHOO! BEST FIND EVER!" He'd recently taken up finding and restoring old broken down Zoids and then re-selling them when he was done. His more recent findings had been... Mediocre at best, the biggest thing he'd found in the last three months was an old command Wolf. A really old one, white colored from the old war times. It had been a very long and expensive restoration for a Zoid most people didn't even want, and who could blame them? It's hydraulics were way too tight with no way of loosening them, it's weapons took ammo that wasn't made anymore and had to be specifically ordered from a specialist. In the end it had cost him twice as much to restore as he was paid for it. But Bael wasn't doing it for the money, he was doing it for the joy of working on Zoids. He'd had his own Helcat as a kid until some guy came into town with a Rev Raptor and challenged him to a battle, he'd accepted and ended up with his Helcat completely totaled. He wanted to fix his old buddy but he never learned to do so until five years later and it had already been sold as spare parts. But this was today, and it would be a big day. Today he'd made a big find in the desert and he was excited about it, a black Great Saber. One of the greatest variants of the Saber Tiger there was. He'd found it scouting earlier in the day and he just had to get a hold of it.

"I've always wanted a Saber Tiger, and now I find a Great Saber? This is the best day of my life!" He'd cranked up the strength of the Gustav's wheels just for this. The wreck was partially buried in the side of a sand dune. It would take some very careful digging to get it out. After a few hours of placing small explosives at the base of the dune, Bael returned to the Gustav and moved it a few tens of meters away. Flipping up a small plastic cover on a detonator, Bael slammed his thumb down on to the button, triggering a series of small explosions at the base of the dune. Sand collapsed around the gigantic robotic tiger in an avalanche, freeing it's body just enough for it to fall free from the dune, despite the sand, Bael could still feel the vibrations of it hitting the ground. Wasting no time, he lined the Crane on the back trailer of the Gustav, lifting the mighty mechanical beast onto the trailer, grains of sand still falling in human sized wads. Slowly and carefully he loaded it onto the front trailer, all his lifting machinery took up too much space in the back. He immediately began on his way to the warehouse that he had made his home and workshop on the outskirts of a city.

"This is going to be a great restore. I might just keep this one myself!" Making his way to his warehouse he managed to turn some heads on the road. Only the best Zoid battlers there were had the money to afford the CP-02 assault unit attachment for a Saber, even one as old and run down as his looked cool with it.. He pulled the Gustav into the open doors of the warehouse, parking it next to another large collection of cranes and parts. He had Saber Tiger parts scattered all around the area, he'd been waiting for this day for a long while and collected enough parts to build half of a Saber Tiger. He quickly went to work on replacing the destroyed parts with better repaired parts and attaching parts where missing. Weeks of hard work passed and all that was missing now was some important hydraulics for the left rear leg and supports. He had to go to the city to get it. He got in his transport truck and left the warehouse for the parts store. Driving through town there was an unusual amount of Zoid based advertizements. He finally made it to the parts shop and stepped through the door. The place was flooded with more people than he'd ever seen there, at least since the Royal cup.

"Ey', Bael, ova here!" A voice called out over the crowd. Bael looked around, trying to peer around the writhing mass of people. Not far away he saw an employee of the shop that he'd come to know over the last few months sitting in a chair.

"Matt!" Bael called back. He had to muscle his way through the crowds to make it to him. After another large push he fell out of the other side of the crowd. Sitting up, Bael rubbed his head, that fall hurt. He looked up at Matt, who was laughing at him.

"Hehheh, ya' always crack me up Bael." Matt stood up and extended his arm to Bael, grabbing his hand and helping him get to his feet. Bael took a look back to the crowd, no one ever realized he was there.

"Yeahuh. So Matt, what's up with all the business?" Matt led him over to a sign the was attached to the window of the shop, tearing it down and handing it to Bael. He looked it over and smiled. It was a new Zoid's battle tournament, not quite the royal cup, but still a big showdown. Any team could apply, and the prize money was good for the winner. This gave Bael an idea. He was surprised he'd never thought of it before, If he entered Zoid's battles he wouldn't have to keep selling the his favorite Zoids that he restored, he could start his own private collection and still work on his favorite pastime after every battle, win or lose.

"Hey, you got any rear leg hydraulics and supports for a Saber Tiger in?" His eyes didn't leave the paper, he just turned his head slightly. Matt thought for a moment before holding up one finger, signaling for Bael to wait. He walked off to a door, unlocking it with his key and disappearing behind it. Bael sat down in a waiting chair next to a woman with long brown hair, not unlike his own, but her's was a darker, more basic brown.

"Hi." If he was going to have to wait he'd at least make small talk with someone. She turned her head to him for a moment.

"Hello." Her voice was a little bitter, she might have been in a bad mood.

"So, you gonna enter that Zoid tournament?" He asked. The woman let out a sigh.

"I would, but I don't have a Zoid. I found one In the desert, but I haven't been able to move it." Bael perked up, his eyes filled with wonder and interest. He almost stood up upon hearing it.

"Really? I find and restore Zoids for a living, can you take me to it?" She herself perked up for a moment before looking away and resting her jaw on her palm.

"Forget it, I've done everything I could and I couldn't get it free, how do you plan to?" Bael donned a cocky grin, she obviously hadn't seen his work before.

"I've never found a Zoid I couldn't find, uncover, and restore." The woman returned her gaze to him, her look was now changed from one a boredom to one of curiosity.

"Alright then Mr. scavenger, meet me at these coordinates tomorrow morning if you're so sure of yourself." The woman handed him a piece of paper with some numbers on it before standing up and walking to the exit, looked back at Bael for a moment before walking out. After a few more minutes, Matt finally emerged from the door he'd left through.

"Bring ya' truck 'round back, we got a few parts for ya'." Matt walked back through the door and Bael rose to his feet, walking around the shrinking crowd and got in his truck, driving down

the back lot and parking next to a large door. As he came to a stop, the door began to lift up, rolling in on itself at the top. Bael stepped out of the truck to walk up the ramp leading up

to the storage half of the building. Matt was operating a crane holding up some parts, rods, springs and pistons. Around the room there were plenty more parts, even whole arms, legs and tails from a wide array of different Zoids.

"Hey, I don't remember you having these big sections in last time." The heavy machine Matt drove moved out of the door, lowering the parts into the cart in the back of the truck. After dropping the parts off in the truck the crane returned to the storage room and Matt climbed down off out of the crane.

"Some guy came in with the parts, sold 'em to buy some Zoids for the Grand cup." Bael took some better looks at the parts. The entire back section of a Stealth viper, was among the parts. An old style Saber tiger's tail, even parts for a Shadow Fox, a Zoid only recently put into production. Bael shook hands with Matt.

"Thanks bud, charge it to my tab." Bael stated, relieving his grip on Matt's hand. He waved his friend goodbye before returning to the warehouse in the truck, he worked overnight as hard as he could so he could finish the Saber by morning. All throughout the night light shined out of the warehouse as the sounds of machinery filled the empty desert around it. Metal sliding, torches cutting, components of the Zoid colliding. He worked hard, he worked carefully, and most of all he worked fast. By the time the sun had rose, casting away the darkness, the Black Saber Tiger emerged from the warehouse, Bael seated comfortably in it's head. It's red eyes reflecting sunlight and he wanted to give this thing a test run as soon as possible. Slowly, he eased the two handles that were gripped within his hands forward, the Zoid stepping forward just as slowly. As the handles went further, the Zoid's speed began to increase. Feeling more adventurous, he pushed the handles as far as he could, the Saber swiftly reaching it's top speed. The Zoid was a black blur racing across the desert. It had been such a long time since Bael had felt this, the pull, a g-forces of a Zoid running at full speed. But his Helcat could never compare to this feeling, he was going at least twice as fast as it, and as Bael was about to realize, even faster than that. Bael looked at the display screen to see that there were rear mounted thrusters attached to the back of the assault unit. Bael flipped the small cover on the handle, not unlike the one on the detonator and pushed the button. Bael was slammed against the seat as the Great Saber accelerate fast enough to clear over a hundred feat with each bound it made. With all of his strength, Bael forced himself forward against the Zoids g-forces. He took each handle in his hand, pulling back as hard as he could, bringing the beast to an immediate stop. The thrusters stopped firing and cooled down. That had been the most exhilarating thing he'd done since he piloted his Helcat against the Rev Raptor. Checking his personally inserted electronic map, he found that he was pretty close to the location the woman had chosen to meet him. Punching a few codes into the Zoid's computer, he sent a signal to his Gustav to take itself to the selected coordinates and began on his way with the Saber. It led to a very old city, formerly surrounded by rare hertz signals that would mess with a Zoid's control systems and make them aggressive, now there was nothing but dust an echoes. The former streets were being taken back by the desert around it, sand filling them. Finally, he reached the coordinates that had been marked by the woman, it was a giant pile of ruble from a collapsed building. Bael lowered the Great Saber to the ground, it's canopy raising. Bael stepped out of the Zoid to look it over, he couldn't make out what kind of Zoid was in it, but he could clear this easily. He began to walk around the pile when a sent wafted into his nose. Smoke. With it came the crackling sound of fire. He sped up, going around to find a campfire, the woman he met the other day sitting on a metal beam sipping noodles from a cup.

"Bou tuhm yuh goth hur." She sucked the rest of the noodle's strands into her mouth before swallowing them.

"I almost thought you weren't coming." She joked. The sun was hardly in the sky yet, only a few minutes since it peeked over the horizon.

"Well the traffic was horrible!" He joked

"So, does my customer want to tell me her name?" He asked in a formal voice, bowing and pitching his arm across his chest. The woman smiled, amused by his little act.

"Jill." She said bluntly, not wanting to waste time in getting him to recover the Zoid.

"Alright then Jill. So where exactly is it? I can't make out any Zoid from what I've seen." Jill put the cup of noodles down, standing up and pointing to a section of the junk pile. Bael turned his head to see a Zoid's leg, but not just any Zoid, a very rare and very powerful Zoid. Blueish-black armor. Red base, red vents and giant silver feet. This was the leg of a Genosaurer. Not an average paint job for one, but this was not an average Zoid. Powerful back-mounted double barrel pulse rifles, a nose mounted laser gun and, best of all, the devastating charged particle cannon. Bael squealed like a little girl, this was a dream come true, a powerful, borderline legendary Zoid, and he was going to restore it, he took a moment to look the pile over, the pile of debris looked pretty heavy, but his Gustav could probably pull it free.

"THIS IS WHAT YOU FOUND?" Bael yelled in excitement. The woman took a moment before she answered, she uncovered her ears and replied.

"Is there a problem with that?" She asked, not sure the meaning of the yelling. The widest smile in Bael's life arched across his face. If the smile wasn't an answer, his swift shaking of his head was enough of one. Jill's face once again turned to curiosity. Bael motioned her to follow him, he led her to the Great Saber.

"Nice Zoid, where'd you buy it?" Bael burst into laughter, his then laugh faded to a chuckle, then a giggle, then a series of light heaves. Bael turned around to see her staring at him like he'd gone mad.

"I found this Zoid buried in sand a few weeks ago, I just finished restoring it last night." Bael leaned back against it's leg with a smirk firmly cemented on his face. Without any warning, a loud crashing noise rung into both of their ears, followed by a series of loud bangs and booms. A building had just fell over somewhere in this city. Soon another sound began to rumble into their ears.

"Uh oh." Beal whimpered. Jill eyed him suspiciously.

"You wouldn't happen to know what that sound is would you?" She asked in a very demanding tone. Bael looked up at the Saber's canopy.

"Just one moment!" He yelled before stammering up the face of his Zoid. Climbing as fast as his arms and legs could allow. The rumbling sound began to grow louder as more booms came echoing around the weak buildings. Soon it emerged from behind a building. Bael's Gustav was at full speed, his improved motor that moved the wheels firing away deep inside the Zoid's chassis, driving it toward the mass of ruble that buried the Genosaurer. Bael had not properly programed the path finder into the Gustav's computer, so not the Gustav was an uncontrollable force. He quickly pushed a button on the Saber's dashboard, not to send a signal for the Gustav to stop, but to turn on the megaphone. Bael had an idea to save time in the excavation process.

"You're gonna want to back up!" He called out to Jill, who was still standing at the feet of the Tiger. She peered around the massive metal front leg of the Zoid, seeing the Gustav charging faster than any Gustav should ever move. She looked back to the mass of concrete in front of them. She'd left her bike next to that campfire. She sprinted over as fast as she could, the Great Saber's head turning to her.

"What do you think you're doing!" Bael's voice bellowed from the speakers in the Tiger's mouth. She didn't turn back, she had to get to her bike. She jumped on to the seat of the motorcycle, repeatedly slamming her foot down on a pedal, trying to kick-start the vehicle. The Gustav quickly drew closer to the pile of debris, about to plow directly through it.

"C'mon girl, START!" Jill exclaimed at the still silent bike. Pushing down on the pedal harder. Bael turned the Saber toward the Gustav. Even with a Saber, it would be neer impossible to stop the Gustav at that speed. With a sigh he trotted the Saber Tiger over to Jill, who was still trying to kick-start her bike.

"Move." His Great Saber towered above her, dwarfing both her and the motorcycle she was so desperately trying to start. Jill looked up, and made great time jumping off of her bike and puting a lot of distance between the pile of concrete and herself. Bael lightly pushed the bike forward with the Saber's foot, moving it far enough away from the pile for safety. He proceeded trot the Tiger away from the pile, turning around and bracing for the show. The Gustav slammed into the debris, sending much of it flying in all directions while sending others simply collapsing. A cloud of dust and sand raised into the air, and concrete and metal fell off of the pile, the form of the Genosaurer toppling over. As it came down, it's formerly curled in tail extended, slamming to the ground right where the bike had been moved. Jill stared on in horror, her only means of transportation was just destroyed. The Gustav had stopped directly in the center of where the debris pile had once been. Once again Bael lowered the Great Saber to the ground, the canopy lifted and he exited the Zoid. Jill slowly walked over to the Genosaurer's tail, looking at to few pieces of her bike that were now scattered in all directions.

"Glad I got you to move in time! A few more seconds and you'd be a Jill sand-" Bael was forced to halt his words as Jill turned around, her eyes were filled with fiery anger. Bael took a step back in fear, the anger in Jills eyes was making him feel very, very small.

"I HAD THAT BIKE SINCE I WAS SIXTEEN!" Bael took another step back, he needed a way to defuse the situation and he needed it fast.

"Hey! I... Uh, I restore Zoids for a living, I can put your bike back together!" He was, of course, lying. He knew nothing about bikes. 'Well...' He thought, 'Bikes and Zoids, how different could they be?'. Jill calmed down to some degree, but it could still be seen in here eyes that she was angry. Bael spent the rest of the day clearing debris so the Gustav could get at the Genosaurer of Bael inspecting the site, he came to three conclusions.

"Hey Jill, I got some good news, and a bit of bad news." He stated timidly, not wanting to invoke her anger once more. Jill was sitting by a new campfire, now on a concrete slab from the pile. She averted her gaze from the fire to look at him.

"Now what?" She asked, bitterness very obviously staining her voice. Bael sat down on a different slab of concrete.

"Well for the first point of good news, the Genosaurer is completely clear and ready to go." He began.

"But there's one small... Very little problem..." Jill furrowed her brows.

"And that is?" Once again, anger was very apparent in her voice. She must have really loved that bike. Beal looked back at the Genosaurer, now in the grips of the Gustav's heavy duty cranes.

"Well... It's head is missing." Jill leaned to the side slightly, looking past Bael at the Genosaurer. It's head was, in fact, gone. Quite jaggedly severed too.

"But there is some more good news, I know where the head is." Jill crossed her arms. She knew there was more bad news if there was more good.

"And the other bad news is that it's up there." Bael stood up and extended his arm, his finger following suit. He was pointing at a building, a really old, very weak, very hard to the get to the top of. He walked toward the building, looking intently at the feint shape of the Genosaurer's head, trying to work out the best way to get it down. Bael considered his options. In one way, he'd need some very careful work to get the Genosaurer's head without it plummeting to the ground, but it would take a very well trained Pteras pilot and he didn't want to pay for one. On the other hand, he could just go up there and VERY CARFULLY blast it down, save time, and risk damaging the head and making his job harder. It was a very difficult choice. He wanted to start work soon, but he already restored a Zoid this week and his job was going to be hard enough. He thought for a moment, maybe he should ask the customer, of course, the customer is always right. He turned to Jill, now staring into the fire again.

"Hey, got a question!" Bael called out, he didn't really feel like walking over again. Jill raised her head.

"What?" She didn't sound angry anymore, just bored.

"We got two choices, either I go up there and blast it out and have it now, or we could hire a Pteras pilot to get it and have it tomorrow." Jill sighed before looking at the now flickering fire again.

"Just blow it up, this day can't get much worse." Bael cringed. As a mechanic, he never dared to speak those words. It's bad luck. Trying to cast of the possible misfortune, Bael made his way inside. It was dark. Really dark. Bael frantically tried to reach into his bag, trying to find the flashlight instead of an explosive. Finally finding the metal stick, pressed a button, illuminating the room. Everything had pictures on it, not like graffiti, but like engravings. Everything was built into the walls. He looked around it, seeing many different images, Zoids, people, and odd small Zoids, just a little bigger than a person. He'd heard about things like this in history class when he was younger, an ancient race on Zi who no longer exist. The Ancient Zoidians. They lived in harmony with Zoids until a series of wars and natural disasters wiped them all out. Apparently there was a single Zoid that had a hand in it somehow. He wondered if this building used to be a museum or something. As he walked up several flights of stairs he wondered if he was getting any closer. It had felt like an hour had passed. He'd explored every floor and only found some more of that Zoidian stuff. Soon he began to wonder if this was worth the long and boring walk. At last, something he's never thought would be such a beautiful sight, a floor covered in broken glass and the metal and cement that most likely once stood strong bent and broken. The Genosaurer's head sat just outside the room, all he had to do now was plant just the right amount of explosives. Sifting through his bag, it seemed he'd need to just clear the area beneath it for it to fall. A few minutes later Bael was back outside and about to detonate them.

"Hey Jill, want to watch the fireworks?" Jill ignored him. Bael frowned.

"You don't know what you're missing!" Jill just waved him off, she wasn't in the mood for anything right now. Bael heaved a sigh. More entertainment for him he guessed. He opened the cover on the detonator, not wasting any time in plunging his thumb down on the button. There was a slight delay as the signal flew to the bombs. As it reached, an explosion erupted around the Genosaurer's head, much of the wall was destroyed as it was propelled out of the building, flying down toward... Bael's Great Saber... Bael had no time to do anything as the momentum pulled the Genosaurer head down and smashed through the upper chassis of the Saber. Bael's jaw dropped, he'd managed saying up for almost three days to ensure that this Zoid would get done, and now in one fowl swoop it may have been completely ruined. Along with the assault unit. Bael ran over to his Zoid, looking up through the burning whole through it. Bael once again heaved a sigh, but this time it was one of relief. He almost though himself the luckiest guy on Zi. The damaged had somehow missed the core, his Saber wasn't going to be turning into stone any time soon. But, man was it going to be a pain to fix. Jill couldn't help but laugh when she saw this, she saw it as karma for his Gustav managing to wreck her motorcycle. Bael had to use the cranes in the back to move eachother around and make enough room for both Zoids, his Saber Tiger may not be down, but it wasn't going anywhere for awhile. In the end the Genosaurer's tail was still hanging off the back of the back trailer.

"Alright, we're loaded up, guess you'll be riding with me." Bael and Jill got into the the Gustav, Jill taking the back seat. As they drove across the darkness of the desert, a though just crossed Jill's mind.

"So how much is this gonna cost anyway?" He never did specify a payment. Bael though about it for a moment.

"Usually with a rare Zoid like this, it would probably be more expensive than a Iron Kong fresh off the production line, but tell ya what, with that big tournament coming up, I'm going to need a team, you interested?" It was Bael's recollection that she wanted to enter anyway. Jill thought it over.

"Hm... It's either pay you an outstanding amount of money, or pay nothing and get money after Zoid battles... Tough call." Bael laughed. Sarcasm was always funny to him.

"So it's a deal?" Jill nodded in agreement.

"But if you think I'm paying you to fix my bike you've got another thing coming to you." Bael reached his hand back over his head.

"You got yourself a deal!" Beal happily stated. As Jill extended her hand to meet his, a handshake confirmed a new alliance. A few weeks came and went, Bael repaired his Saber while juggling work on the bike and the Genosaurer. Jill spent most of her time at Baels warehouse, watching as her new Zoid slowly took shape again. It was a difficult task, he couldn't get parts specifically for a Genosaurer, he had to constantly check pictures and museum exhibits and mold already existing parts to match. On top of that, there was a pretty nasty A.I. program built into the Zoid he had to remove, it was most likely a drone in the old war times, although using such a powerful Zoid as a drone made little sense in his mind. After a month of hard work the head was finally re-attached and all that was left was to fill in some blast damage to the neck and work on the charged particle gun. In the mean time he almost finished repairing the bike with new parts, most of the old ones were completely destroyed by the impact. The grand cup was drawing near and they were still met by a problem, the rules still only permitted a three team member minimum. The pressure was mounting to get a third member AND finish repairs. He began putting up posters in the city, hoping to get someone's attention. More time passed, there were only four weeks to the Grand cup. Bael got the Genosaurer as good as it was going to get. The charged particle gun just needed some serious hardware that was far too difficult to get. Bael entered the cockpit in the chest and began to run diagnostic tests. He moved the tail, he took some steps, he tested the locks in the back of the feet. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it other than the charged particle gun. Shame really, the main feature of the Zoid could not be used.

"Hey Jill! Get in here!" Jill sat in a small room inside of the warehouse. A television and some couches where the only thing in it, save for a refrigerator, a microwave and a small light on the ceiling in the center of the room. Jill stood up, she couldn't believe she had to spend her nights in there, the motels she stayed at when she'd lived on the road were better. Upon leaving the room, she turned her head in Bael's direction.

"What is it? I finally found a comfy spot on that couch." She growled. The last month had been horrible to her, she'd spent most of her nights sleeping inside the Gustav. Bael stood in front of the Genosaurer, triumphantly standing with his arms pointed out, only to curve in at the elbow and end with his fists at his ribs.

"Your Zoid is ready!" Bael announced, raising his right arm and stepping to the left. For the first time in over a month, Jill smiled. She'd been patient and now she wouldn't have to sleep in the Gustav or that horrible little room. Bael told her that that room felt like home to him, but she couldn't really see why. It was small, it was hot, even during the cold destert night and it was still warm and uncomfortable. She really hoped that they could make enough money from Zoids battles to buy a Whale king or a Hover cargo. But that was neither here nor there. She had a new Zoid and she wanted to test it out immediately. Jill ran past Bael to enter the pilot seat of the Genosaurer. It was the most beautiful sight she'd seen in a long time. The armor glinted despite the lack of sunlight, it's color looked incredible and on top of that, it was one of the most powerful Zoids in existence. As she stepped up to the seat she felt a tug at her arm. She looked back to see Bael holding on to her.

"Let go!" She demanded, when Bael released her arm she pulled it away from him. What had gotten in to him?

"First, I got to tell you something." Jill knew exactly what what coming next.

"Listen, I've heard it before, you're going to confess your love to me right? Well I'm sorry, I'm not ready for a relationship." Jill closed her eyes, bracing herself for sadness and anger of rejection that a few people had shown her before, but it never came. As she opened her eyes, Bael just stared at her, one of his eyebrows raised. Jill was a little confused.

"Well? Aren't you sad or something?" Bael continued to stare, he looked just as confused as her.

"Thats... Not what I was going to say." Jill's eyes widened. That's how every other male she ever spent more than ten minutes with her acted that way. So what? She wasn't good enough for him? Jill was actually a little insulted.

"I was gonna tell you, you can't use the charged particle gun, if you do, you may cause a series of explosions that will destroy the Zoid beyond repair, even by me." 'Good to know.' Jill thought. That _was_ a very good reason to grab her arm instead of confessing his love.

"So... Why will it do that... Exactly?" Bael let go of her arm and walked her over to the side of the Genosaurer, the the welding was pretty obvious but it was the best that Bael could do.

"See that point? Where the neck's attached?" Jill looked closely, not noticing anything too special. Just welded spots and other such things.

"Yeah... But I don't see anything wrong with it." She honestly didn't. Though, she didn't really know much about Zoids other than piloting them.

"The neck joint was originally developed to attach directly into the CPG, it was made to reduce kickback, since the neck was severed, all the hardware was fried. Makes me wonder what could have done that though." His voiced seemed to take a strange tone as he said it, it was a very strict tone, one that you shouldn't interrupt. He really knew what he was talking about, he'd always go off about Zoids whenever he could. Jill nodded to agree not to use it before the cockpit opened and she climbed inside, turning the microphone on.

"I'm gonna go show off, I'll be back tomorrow." She announced. The Genosaurer's eyes began to glow a peircing red as it began to spark to life, a loud and powerful roar erupting from it's mouth. It's leg began to lidt as it slowly began to walk over to the door of the warehouse. The boosters in it's heels ignited, the force of it knocking Beal off his feet. As it began to lift off of the ground similar boosters in the bottom of it's feet also ignited, allowing it to hover. It stayed in place for a moment, then in a quick lean forward, it jetted off into the desert, much faster than any other Zoid it's size normally could. Bael stood up and patted the dust off of his clothes, he felt like this had been a job well done. He also really hoped that she hadn't just suckered him into giving her a free Zoid. Either way, he got to work on an ACTUAL Genosaurer. Who else could say they got to do that? Not many, and that was a great experience for him. Bale once again returned to the small room, sitting down and watching some Zoid battles on the TV. A few hours passed and the sound of a Zoid outside caught his attention. Bael stepped out of the room, expected Jill to be back early when he was met by a better sight, a man standing in the doorway finally it happened, someone showed up holding a peice of paper, obviously one of their ads.

"I'm here about your ad." The statement was the greatest thing Bael had heard all month.

"So you're looking to join the team?" Bael excitedly asked, just being sure that it was really about joining the team and that his adds weren't in violation of something. Bael also noticed that he'd left a Command Wolf outside, it's color was interesting, it was a dull red with a blueish-gray base under the armor, on top of that, it had a dark green canopy. It was also mounted with a long range cannon.

"Yep. So, what kinds of Zoids you got?" He asked. Bael was in every kind of mood to gloat. He led him over to the Great Saber, still intimidating with it's jet black armor and red eyes in it's canopy. Bael was actually considering giving it a new paint job, it was cool, but it was also a little creepy in those colors. Maybe gold.

"This is MY Great Saber. Jill's out breaking her new Zoid in." Bael gloated and informed. The guy looked at the Saber with great interest.

"Nice. Y'know, I had a Saber Tiger once. Never seen one with an assault unit up close before though." Bael liked that, the guy had experience but not enough to show him up in a Zoids battle.

"You got a name?" Bael asked. The guy extended his arm for a handshake.

"Rick." Bael did likewise.

"Bael" Bael was happy, his team was complete and over the course of that day he did a quick checkup on the Command Wolf, it had a lot a damage, especially in the hind quarters. It would take some work but it could be repaired in time for the Grand cup. Night fell and Bael was asleep on the couch in the small room. Rick was watching TV He looked over to Bael for a moment, seeing him to be sound asleep. He slowly crept out the door, making a direct turn to the Saber Tiger. A smile crossed his face as he slowly walked over to it.

"Heh, can't believe how easy this one was." He chuckled. He began to climb up the platform that led to the Saber's cockpit. He pushed a small button next to the canopy, opening it. As he sat down he took the controls in his grip and immediately thrusted them forward. The Saber charged forward, crashing through the wall and making a LOT of noise as the wall crumbled and fell to the ground around it. Bael shot up from the couch, running right to the door of the small room, finding it slightly ajar. He flung it open to find a gaping hole in the side of the warehouse. The Great Saber was long gone. Bael was pretty sure that Rick wasn't taking it for a leisurely stroll to get some of that fresh night air. He'd been conned. Bael couldn't help but feel enraged. He'd put a lot of time, money, work and heart into restoring that Zoid. For the rest of the night, Bael tried to follow where the Saber's tracks in the ground, but to no avail. As morning came again Bael only had one thing to do to keep his anger in check, working on repairing the Command Wolf. As he stood atop a lift, welding some parts, a familiar sound began to fill his ears as the jets of the Genosaurer draw near. Jill steppe down from the cockpit, looking around the warehouse.

"I leave for one day and you trade the Saber for a Command Wolf? What's wrong with you!" Jill yelled. Bael squinted his eyes.

"I didn't trade it, it was stolen." His words were fast and he seemed to want to yell as he said it. Jill pulled back, hearing this she realized how cruel what she'd said had been.

"Oh... I... I'm... So sorry." She quietly muttered. Bael heaved a sigh, he didn't entirely hear what she'd said, but he'd snapped at her, the only person other than Matt he could feel comfortable trusting at this point. He pushed a button to lower the crane. As it brought him to the ground, Jill looked over, only now noticing the gaping hole in the wall. Bael opened a small latched door on the side of the small platform and stepped out.

"Sorry for snapping, you didn't know what happened." He was feeling more sorry than she did now. He'd trusted her to go out with the a Zoid without any form a payment given and she came back. She'd put up with living in his rundown warehouse in one small room. She was a friend. Later the two sat down in the small room, they both needed to think and talk about this. Bael described what happened and eventually as the frustration subsided, they began talking of the Grand cup.

"So what are we gonna do?" Jill asked. Bael sat on the floor, his elbow planted on a lone table with his thumb to his chin.

"I don't know. The Command Wolf is battle ready, but damaged, and the Genosaurer is more than enough for three other Zoids, but without a third member we still can't enter the cup." This was quite the predicament. The Grand cup was closing in fast, they only had two members and two Zoids, and on top of that, Bael couldn't trust anyone but Jill and Matt. It wasn't like a trustworthy teammate would just fall into their laps. They'd have to go out and actually look for a teammate. After a deciding on a teammate screening method, Bael left the room, Jill staying inside to take a rest. It had been a long night and morning for her. She needed it. Bael was going to test run the Command Wolf, make sure that all the systems would work properly. Bael took the Command Wolf out on the Gustav. It ran and jumped over dunes well, as Bael prepared to pack up he realized he only had one more system to test. The gun. That bandit had at least had the common decency to leave an ARMED Command Wolf. Quite a nice gun too, a Long-range Cannon. He calibrated the sights and took aim at the side of a dune. He fired one shot, hitting dead on in the center. Sand from the top of the dune crashed down, filling and falling from the newly formed hole. Bael smiled. The Zoid was definitely ready for use. Before he turned the Command Wolf back to the Gustav, he noticed something. There was a tall shape, towering from the sand like a spire. Bael knew what it was, this was a special Zoid. A Zoid almost as rare as the Genosaurer. The part that protruded from the ground was a blade. Not just any blade, but the glorious golden blade of a Blade Liger. Although not as rare as Genosaurers, Blade Ligers are a very sought after Zoid. The last he'd seen of a Blade Liger was when he was watching the Royal cup. They had a third Zoid, as long as it wasn't in too bad of a condition, they could definitely use it, but this Zoid was deep under the sand. It would probably be hard to get free, even for someone with Bael's expertize. Bael thought for a moment. Explosives wouldn't help much with it being a buried as it was, and he couldn't just pull it free with the Gustav, and he didn't have any kind of digger. Bael was quickly struck by an idea. He didn't have a digger, but Jill did. The Genosaurer's jets could easily clear most of the sand, and it's feet could clear everything else. Bael returned to the Command Wolf and piloted it to the Gustav's trailer. After a swift ride home, Bael was surprised to see a Whale King outside of his warehouse. Stepping out of the Gustav, all he could hear was Jill yelling at somebody.

"I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT." She sounded absolutely enraged. Just outside the the doors, a man stood leaning on the building with his arms crossed. He was tall and had red hair. Bael began to walk over, looking at the Whale king. The Whale king wasn't the standard red. It was a shining gold with blue eyes. As Bael stopped next to the doors, the man with red hair looked up.

"You don't want to go in there, that chick's crazy." Bael assumed that by chick, he, whoever he was, meant Jill.

"Who are you, and who's she screaming at?" Bael asked. The man raised on of his arms, his thumb motioning to the inside of the warehouse.

"That guy in there's Percival. He came here to make an offer on that Genosaurer she has." Well, that explained the yelling.

"My name's Ran, he hired me to be on his team and now he's not going into any battles because he can't find a Zoid that fits his taste." Bael leaned over to look inside. Jill was still screaming her head off at him.

"Isn't that kind of a-" Bael tried to begin.

"Waste of money? Believe me, this guy's loaded. He owns like twelve Gojulus that he just leaves to collect dust." Bael would have done a double take if he'd heard that in passing. Not many people can get a Gojulas, mostly the rich and lucky, very few have more than two or three. Bael leaned to the side, gazing into his warehouse. Jill was holding on to the cockpit of the Genosaurer and still screaming at this man, he wore a white outfit with black shoes, his hair was blond and well kept.

"Be reasonable! I didn't want to have to do this but... I'll give you ten Gojulus, eight Dibison, and My whole set of twenty Gun Snipers." Jill climbed up, seating herself in the pilot seat of the Genosaurer.

"I'm not going to tell you again. I. AM. NOT. INTERESTED!" The hatch to the cockpit closed and the Zoid's eyes lit up the same bright red as when It first walked out of the doors. Soon Jill's voice boomed through the microphone.

"Have I made myself clear?" The nose mounted gun of the Zoid took aim at him, asking her question for her. Percival took a step back. With a little intimidation he finally seemed to be getting the message.

"Randal, we'll be returning to the Whale King now." Percival turned around and began walking away. Ran growled under his breath, he hated when people called him that. Pushing away from the wall of the warehouse, Ran stretched before looking back to Bael.

"Guess I'll be off then, and if Percy ever gets his act together, I'll see ya' on the battlefield." Ran began to walk toward the Whale King, soon joined by Percy. As the Whale King began to take off, Bael returned his attention to Jill, still inside of her Zoid.

"Hey Jill, I found another Zoid, I'm gonna need some help getting it!" Bael installed a third trailer to the Gustav, he needed both the Zoids to dig the Liger up. Over the course of the rest of they day they cleared sand. Several tons of sand and a few scratches on the armor of the Liger later they'd cleared enough of the sand to load it onto the the front trailer of the Gustav. Jill fell asleep in the back seat of the Gustav while Bael set up a path for the Gustav to follow before laying down and watching the night sky on the Gustav's middle trailer, at the foot of the Command Wolf. He'd always loved the desert at night, Zi's larger moon always cast a nice blue color over it. Just watching sand blow through the cold night wind showed how much beauty a lifeless wasteland can have. The sounds of the desert at night also relaxed him, the wind, the shifting sands, even the small things like the chirp of a cricket. Among the desert sounds another noise began to fill his ears, it was faint, but unmistakable. The sound of a Pteras, in fact, a LOT of Pteras. Bael sat up and looked in the direction of the sound, he saw a very large group of Pteras in the distance, closing in fast. This may not of been cause for concern if it were just one Pteras and if it wasn't for the strange attachments to the chests of the Zoids. As the glow of their wings became more viable, Bael used the lift on the side of the trailer to get to the Command Wolf's cockpit. The first Pteras passed over as the canopy closed. For a moment Bael thought he'd overreacted, but this was quickly disproved as the Pteras turned around and began to circle the trailers. Bael turned on the radio system and began trying to communicate with the quickly growing horde of Pteras, maybe he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be in.

"Pteras pilots, state your business." Instead of an answer, Bael got a different reaction. One of the Pteras swooped down, a hatch on the odd chest attachment opening. A long wire descended from it, a hook attached to the end. It came down and hooked into the Genosaurer's leg. The Pretas made a quick upward climb until the line went straight, then It began to hover, it's Magnesser system keeping it in place. It was soon followed by another, and another. This was when Bael decided to stop gawking and take action. The Command Wolf leaped from the Gustav's trailer took aim at the Pteras with it's long-range gun. Bael began firing wildly into the night sky, the Pteras weaving around his shots. More of them passed over the Genosaurer, more hooks going into it's sides. Bael looked around the sky, trying to get a good shot. Soon he spotted what seemed like the leader, a silver Pteras, made for high speed and stealth. He lined up his crosshairs, leading it a little ahead of the Zoid before taking another shot. As the shot flew by Bael thought he'd missed again, but little to his knowledge, he'd managed to graze it's armor, much to the dismay of it's pilot. He called out over his radio.

"The boss said this wouldn't be any trouble! Zack! Get in there and deal with that Command Wolf!" A Zoid began to come over a nearby dune, stopping at the top. A Gun sniper. The Zoid turned around, larger clawed toes locking it into place. It's tail extended, the armor panel at the base raising. Bael was to busy shooting at the Pteras to notice. The pilot took aim at Bael's Command Wolf, locking it's sights on it's hind leg. The pilot's finger began to pull the trigger when something fired on him. A series of small rounds were fired at the dune, causing the pilot to lose his footing, his Gun Sniper tumbling backward down the dune.

"Bael, you need to pay attention! That sniper nearly shot you down!" Jill's voice came over Baels radio. She definitely chose a good time to wake up, and it was definitely a good idea for Bael to install that machine gun to the Gustav. One more Pteras made a dive toward the Genosaurer, releasing it's hook and swerving to avoid the other wires. As the it hooked on to the Genosaurer, the Pteras began lift higher, the Genosaurer slowly moving with them.

"What are you waiting for Bael? DON'T LET THEM TAKE MY Zoid!" Bael began firing at them again, but his shots continued to miss, they were all flying too fast and too far apart. Bael attempted to give chase but the speed of the flying Zoids was too great. They disappeared over the horizon in only a few minutes. Jill had stopped the Gustav and approached the Gun Sniper. Either the fall had knocked the pilot unconscious or the command system had frozen, or both. Pressing a small button on the located next to the canopy, it opened, revealing the unconscious pilot. Bael returned to the Gustav, getting the Command Wolf back to the trailer. He quickly join Jill at the Gun Sniper.

"Jill, they got away." Jill didn't want to get angry, after what happened to Bael the yesterday Bael had gone through the same, clenching her fists, she tried to contain her frustration.

"Let's just get this guy, we're taking him back to the warehouse." After returning to the warehouse and tying up the pilot, Bael and Jill began to discuss what they were going to do with him, Jill was in every mood to take that helmet off of hill and start hitting him with it, but, Bael had other ideas.

"Jill, I know you're mad, but we need to be realistic about this. If we can just talk to him, we might find out where they took it." Jill stood up, turning to the door. They had tied him to the leg of the Command Wolf.

"Well then let's get some answers, the sooner I get my Zoid back the sooner we'll have a functional team." Jill walked to the door, opening it before looking back at Bael.

"You coming?" Bael was looking at the floor. He raised his head to look at Jill, seemingly snapped out of a trance.

"Oh, yeah, I was just... Thinking." Bael got up and walked to the door, after stepping through, they both walked over to their 'guest'. Who'd been awake for about 10 minutes. Jill lifted his helmet from his head, revealing the pilot's messy blond hair and blue eyes. He was clearly younger than Bael, sixteen or or fifteen. Jill grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Where'd they take it? Huh? Where's my Genosaurer!" Jill was shaking him back and forth, fortunately for him, the was at least at an angle where his head wasn't hitting the metal of the Zoid's leg.

"I... Don't... Knowwhoah! I was just... Hired to watch and help if anything went... Wrong!" His words sentence was partially broken up from being shaken. Bael put his hand on Jill's shoulder, urging her to stop. Jill looked over, letting go of the pilot. Lightly pushing Jill away, Bael tried a less violent approach.

"Do you know why they took it?" Bael asked lightly. A lighter approach is sometimes better, just as when digging up an abandoned Zoid.

"I don't know exactly, but I think that over the radio I heard one mention someone hiring them to steal it." Jill furrowed her brows. This statement told her all she needed to know.

"It was the Percival guy, I KNOW IT!" Jill turned to the Gustav and began running to it.

"Jill, what do you think you're doing?" Jill looked back, coming to a stop the the side of the Gustav.

"Getting my Zoid back." Bael's face fell into his palm.

"And just how do you intend to do that without knowing where he lives?" Jill, now sitting in the pilot seat of the Gustav. As much as she hated it, this was true. Jill sighed. Exiting the Gustav, Jill returned to Bael.

"So, what are we supposed to do with him?" Jill asked. She didn't want to just let the guy go, he did help with the theft of her Zoid. Bael had been thinking something over for awhile and he had a bit of an idea.

"Well we could let him go." Bael suggested. Exactly what Jill didn't want to do.

"WHY? He helped steal my Zoid!" The mere thought of it made her angry. A very small grin began to form on Bael's face, it was hardly visible.

"What's he gonna do, attack us?" Jill noticed something sounded off when he said that.

"I mean he's clearly not a good sniper, what harm can he do?" The Gun sniper pilot, who'd just sat... well, hung quietly next to them cocked his head over to Bael. That comment had struck a nerve.

"Don't you dare insult my sniping skills! I AM THE RED COMET INCARNATE!" Both Jill and Bael looked at him, that was the most energy he'd shown since he'd woken up. It actually made Bael jump a little.

"The red comet? Ha! Comparing yourself to her! That's the funniest thing I've heard all week!" Jill was laughing, something she thought she wouldn't be doing that day. The pilot struggled in the ropes, that was a swing at his pride and he was none too happy about it. It was time for Bael to put his idea in action.

"Jill, I think we've made him mad, maybe we should take back what we said." Jill stopped laughing and gave Bael one of the most questioning looks she'd every given somebody. It didn't really dawn on her what he was trying. Bael grabbed the knot in the ropes.

"Tell you what, we'll take back what we said AND set you free if you'll do us a favor." The pilot tried to inhale, the ropes making it harder to catch a lung full, before heaving a small sigh.

"What is it?" It was obvious in his voice that he'd probably be answering yes to the next question.

"Join our team." Jill's jaw dropped and the pilot's eyes widened. For a moment there was a mutual silence between them. Jill was shocked, after all the effort they'd put into a complex teammate screening process, he'd just asked a random guy, a random guy who not even one hour ago helped in the theft on one of their Zoids, it was mind blowing.

"That's all? You didn't have to go through the trouble of kidnapping me, I've been looking for a team for awhile now. I need to get out of all having to pay favors back to people." That was all Bael needed to hear. He pulled at one point in the knot, the ropes going slack and the pilot landing at his feet. Jill just, could not believe what she was seeing. How could Bael be so trusting of someone that they'd one, just met. Two, only known as a guy who helped to steal their Zoid, and three, said yes to a 'yes results in freedom' question without any second thought. The pilot extended his arm to Bael.

"Call me Zack, sniper extraordinaire." Bael did the same, bringing no end to Jill's utter shock.

"Bael, desert scavenger." Their hands locked together, just as Bael and Jill's had before, to signify the start of a new team. Releasing his grip Zack extended his arm to Jill. Jill didn't want any part of it. She was not going to shake hands with a thief, she did not trust him, and she didn't want a thief hanging around the warehouse. Zach shrugged, if she didn't want the handshake, that was fine. Bael and Zack went to the small room, Jill following behind. For Jill, it would be a long and sleepless night. She watched Zack, not letting him out of her sight. Once again morning came and the sun rose over the horizon, Jill was still awake, having woken up in the middle of the night insured that she still wasn't tired. Bael stretched on the couch before sitting up. The hair on the right side of his head was pressed down from sleeping. He yawned before looking around the room, as he usually did, to be met by Jill's eyes, it was as if she wasn't looking at him, but through him. Her gaze was still adhered to Zack. Bael got up and began fixing his hair, Jill clearly wasn't going anywhere so he figured he should go into town. He let Matt barrow his computer quite awhile back. Bael got in the transport truck and began on his way back to the city, on his way there he saw a large billboard on the side of the road, Bael remembered that it used to be for the place he went to get parts, but now it was a picture of a Judge with it's arms crossed, next to it was text stating that the royal cup begins in three weeks. There were some obvious sliders to change out the times but that wasn't what interested Bael, he needed to get to the shop. Stepping inside Bael was not met by the large crowd, in fact, there wasn't a lot of everyone. Matt was nowhere to be seen either.

"Hey Matt! You in!" He waited for a response, which came in the form of a door opening on to the back room. A woman with black hair stood there. Matt was not the only employee that Bael knew, this woman's name was was Lizzy.

"Hey Liz... What's up with this place? It's like a little ghost town." Bael had come to that store with his dad since he was ten and with Bael's very regular visits everybody there seemed to know him, or at least hear of him in passing. Lizzy lead Bael over to the windows, across the street there were tons of cars parked, and another shop. On a massive screen on the front, a Zoid battle was unfolding on it. A recently designed Zoid, the Dark Spiner was tearing up the battlefield. The Zoids that it was fighting were falling one by one. A Helcat crushed, a Command Wolf thrown, a Shield Liger's shield shattered.

"Ever since they sponsored that Zoid team, they've been stealing all our business." It was a simple yet effective business strategy. 'This pilot is using our parts, look how awesome he is!'.

"Well you guys know you've still got your number one customer!" In Bael had almost lost track of his goal in conversation.

"Oh yeah, is Matt in?" Jill shook her head.

"He's off today, what did you need?" Bael shrugged, it didn't matter much if Matt wasn't at the store.

"I needed to use that computer I gave him, Guess I'll head off to his place." Before Bael could walk away Liz stopped him.

"He keep's it in the back, first door on the right, you can't miss it." Bael ran over to the back room door.

"Thanks Liz." It was a pretty narrow hallway, he'd always thought that the doors just opened directly into the storage facility. Walking down the hall he found it decorated with a lot of pictures, mostly employees and even some pictures of himself. Mostly in the customer of the month section. Coming to the door he found that, interestingly enough it was the only door on the right. As he reached for the doorknob Liz threw the door he'd entered threw open.

"Wait! I meant the left!" Bael pulled his hand away from the door and walked over to the left one closest to the entrance. Liz, seeing that he was at the right door whipped the sweat from her

head. Whatever was behind that door must have been pretty important if she was that freaked out about it. Throwing open the correct door, Bael found a dark room, flicking on the lights, Bael found the room to have one wall completely covered in boxes for that model kit series going around, a shelf filled the the brim with model kits. Bael knew he collected them, but he didn't know he collected so many. On other side of the room was a fairly neat desk, papers, a chair, the computer. Bael sat down and turned on the computer and began checking searching for Percival's name. It was a pretty common name but there was only one known for being rich. The Stonewell family, their most recent heir to the fortune had been throwing the money around like it was nothing. From the looks of the pictures, it was the right guy. Finally, Bael found what he was looking for, a location. After leaving the room and getting past the mass of people Bael returned to the transport truck, he needed to get home and tell Jill. When he got there he was met with a familiar sound. The sound of Jill yelling, unlike last time, someone was yelling back. Bael walked in to the warehouse to find Jill and Zack arguing about something.

"It's weird! You can't just follow me around like that!" Zack complained. It was unclear who was winning but Bael couldn't get a word in, each time he tried to speak up, he was quickly silenced by either Jill or Zack's yelling.

"I am NOT going to let a little thief like you walk around without someone to keep an eye on you!" Both Bael and Zack knew a bit of this statement.

"You sound just like my Mom!" Beal decided to take action, stepped between the two, pushing them away from each-other.

"If you guys cans stop it for just a few moments, I have an announcement." Jill and Zack were still trying to hold eye contact. But Bale served as a good enough wall against this.

"Now, I know where Percy lives, now are you two gonna argue, or are we going to take back the Genosaurer and have a full set of Zoids?" Jill and Zack turned away from each-other, both walking to the Gustav, Jill entering the back seat of it while Zack laid down in the front trailer. Bael heaved a sigh. Something told him this kind of thing would only get worse as time went on. Bael detached the two back trailers and programmed the path finder for the Gustav. As the Zoid pulled out of the Warehouse, Bael pressed a button on the console. remotely closing the doors. Some time passed and Jill decided to ask the obvious.

"Why did you let him on the team? He's a thief!" Bael shook his head. He could understand where she was coming from, he'd been too trusting before and he payed for it. But with only three weeks to the Grand cup they didn't have many options.

"I don't see a thief. I see a teammate when we REALLY need one." Jill knew that this was true, but he was there, he was helping the thieves, if he wasn't a thief then she wasn't a Zoid pilot. A building began to come into focus in the distance, it was clearly large, standing tall enough to be seen over a large stone wall circling it. The Stonewell estate. Bael prepared to take manual control when the Gustav made a wild and random turn, throwing him to the left. He looked at the screen on the dashboard. The radar of the path finder was spinning. Trying to pull against the random turns, Bael did he best to grab the controls. After stopping the path finder he quickly pulled up to the estate gates. Bael jumped out of the cockpit, soon followed by Jill. Bael looked up to the radar panels at the top of the Zoid, they normally told it which way to go on auto-pilot.

"Can someone get me down from here?" On the ride over Zack had no view of where they were going, so he had decided to climb the radar mast. After the difficult task of getting Zack down, Bael pressed a button next to the gate, turning on the speaker. Before Bael could speak up, Jill leaned in.

"We're here to see Percival." Her voice was oddly calm and lacking in anger. It was like she'd forgotten the event of the theft completely. The gates opened slowly, before the three of them could walk up a clear road leading to the front door. Across the lawn were Zoids in battle positions, from Godos and Iguans to Helcats and Command Wolves. All paired off against a opposing alliance based counterpart. As they drew near the front door, it began to open, both Percival and a butler stepping outside to meet them. Jill quickly stepped ahead of the others, She had a few choice words for him.

"Where. Is. My. Geno. Saurer?" Her voice quickly became strict and demanding. Unlike when she had the Genosaurer with her however, Percy was not intimidated.

"If I remember correctly, you wouldn't let me have it." His snobby voice scratched at Jill's ears, and this statement just made her even angrier. It was so obviously him.

"You listen here you spoiled, stubborn, creep. I know you sent those Pteras to steal my Zoid, now GIVE IT BACK." Her harshness dropped again, now more of a mildly annoyed tone.

"I have no Idea what you're talking about, no leave my property before I'm forced to call for security." With the last word of his sentence, a pair of Rev Raptors on the lawn began to move, turning to them and taking aim. Jill clenched her fist for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"This isn't over." She mumbled, before they all returned to the Gustav. It was a long and unhappy ride back home. They didn't get the Genosaurer back and on top of that, they were simply thrown out. As they arrived back at the Warehouse Bael remotely opened the door and stepped out of the Gustav.

"Jill, It's gonna take a few weeks to restore the Blade Liger, but we're still going to need the gear to get our team registered, get the transport truck and go to the pick some them." Bael decided that they couldn't join the grand cup, they'd at least have the Zoids nice and ready for combat in an actual battle. As Bael and Zack walked to the Warehouse, Jill began to walk to the truck. Bael would just have to hope that they could win enough damage-free battles. At least then he'd only have to pay for ammunition. He couldn't afford repairs for all the Zoids if they're damaged in combat, he'd been doing too much restoring and too little selling since he'd found the Great Saber. His reserves of money were running dry and he needed the extra prize money of the Grand cup. Bael and Zack stopped in the warehouse's massive doorway. What they saw inside was... Interesting. There were a LOT of people inside, all of whom seemed to be... Repairing the Blade Liger? One person of the group of people noticed them, breaking off from the group to run toward them. As they got close, Bael recognized him.

"Matt? What... Uh... What exactly are you doing?" How did Matt know about the Blade Liger? He hadn't told anybody he had it other than Jill and Zack, and neither of them had been anywhere to tell anyone. On top of that, how did he, and all those people for that matter get in?

"I was on my way to yer place last night and, then I saw dat Blade Liger on your trailer. I knew ya' ain't been making much money, so think of this as a gift for our number one customer!" This slightly confused Bael more.

"And why were you coming over?" Matt raised his hand, extending one finger, his other hand reaching into his pocket. After a second of his arm shifting, he pulled his still empty hand out.

"Uh... Gimme a second." Matt started to check his other pocket. Nothing. Soon he began checking every pocket he had, it was starting to become more of a question of why he had so many pockets.

"Uh... Just a minute..." Matt turned around and ran to his team, still working on the Liger. Bael didn't know what to think. It was odd to say the least, sure they were friends, but this was a bit... Excessive. Jill and Zack were a lot more confused than Bael, Jill had only seen him once before and Zack had never seen him at all.

"You... Know this guy?" Zack bluntly asked Bael.

"Yeah. He's a friend of mine." At this point, Matt returned from his team, his arms wrapped around foUr small boxes, handing one to each of them, losing grip on one and dropping it. Bael was the first to open one of the boxes. Inside was a small device, a small screen and several buttons on it.

"Zoid gear! YOU GOT US Zoid GEAR?" This was the BEST piece of news all day. It saved his money, they could get registered AND with the team at work on the Blade Liger, he'd have plenty of spare money for repairs, if he wasn't the guy he was he'd give Matt a giant hug. Matt judged by Bael's expression of pure joy, his answer to the next question would be yes.

"And now, the catch." Jill and Zack stopped opening their own boxes and Bael's smile shrunk.

"As ya' may already know, the shop's fallen on hard times. We need more business, so we're gonna sponsor ya'." A though crossed Bael's mind at this moment.

"Okay, so where exactly is the catch?" An arguably evil grin crossed Matt's face.

"We get half of all yer prize money!" Bael thought about this for a moment. They didn't have much to lose. They'd be paid enough for repairs and ammo, and their half of the prize money could keep Bael working his normal job of restoring broken down Zoids.

"Well Jill, Zack. We don't have a lot to lose, are you ready to do this?" Jill nodded and Zack pumped his fist.

"We're a team!" He cheered. For the next week, Bael and Matt's team restored the Blade Liger, the blades were sharpened, the E-shield generator was repaired, the burns and scratches were buffed out. Lastly, a symbol of the team was painted on each Zoid. A number one on the cheek of the Blade Liger, a two on the Command Wolf's cheek and a three on the neck of the Gun Sniper. It was two weeks from the Grand cup and the team was, for the most part, ready. All with enough time to get into practice for battle. Today was the day to make the teams official, Bael, Jill and Zack were in the pilot seats of their Zoids, about to register at the same time.

"Alright everybody, on three... One, two, three!" The tree installed their Zoid gear into their Zoid's computers, and after a moment a Judge appeared on the screen.

"My name is Bael Comet, I'd like to register a team for the Zoid's battle league." Bael wanted to sound nice and official for their introduction to the league.

"Deliberating... Team submission accepted, state the name of your team." Bael thought this over for a moment.

"Hm... I got it! Put us down as the Scavenge team." The name worked in his opinion, he was a desert scavenger, it WAS his team. Finally, the sweet music of his registration number rang into his ears.

"Registering Zoid warrior Bael Comet, registration number nine, three, four, C, one. Affiliation: the Scavenge team. Welcome to the Zoid battle league warrior." All that was left was for Zack and Jill to complete their registration.

"Registering Zoid warrior Zack Helios." The Judge began to read off his registration number as well.

"Registering Zoid warrior Jill Sonada." As the Judged read off the final points of information Bael knew he had done it. THEY had done it. He'd formed a team, registered in the league and made some new friends. The battles in the Grand cup wouldn't be easy, but Bael was ready, Bael was sure, their team would go on to do great things. The Scavenge team.

To be continued...

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><p><strong>Hope you all had a happy new year, and that the rest of the year will be great for you. This took a little over two months of writing and laziness, but if this becomes popular enough I won't be so inclined to be so lazy between chapters. Now, with that said, I'm going to note the first inconsistency with the canon of the anime. Jill's Genosaurer is based on one of the three that Raven fought at the end of Guardian Force, the one that got it's head cut off by the X-breakers. Of course, in scene you can see that the head simply falls of, but in this story's canon, an explosion propelled it into the side of a building. Also, just to add, No, Bael's Blade Liger is not Van's. I gave him a high performance Zoid, I'm NOT trying to make a mary sue. Reviews are welcome, as with such a long story, I may make mistakes that I won't notice right away. I've only got one person to pre-read my work other than me. And now...<strong>

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><p><em><strong>Bael<strong>: "Argh! Using a Zoid in real combat's harder than it looks!"_

_**Jill**: "You've never actually piloted a Zoid in battle before?"_

_**Zack**: "And you guys said I was bad!"_

_**Jill**: "Hey, we can help you get better, it'll just take some practice!"_

_**Bael**: "Thanks guys, I just hope the training's not too hard... Next time on Zoids. 'Bael's training; Piloting 101' See ya' on the battlefield!"_


	2. Bael's training Piloting 101

_**Zoids: Tales of the Scavenge team.**_

_**Chapter 2: Bael's training, Piloting 101.**_

_**First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for the incredibly long wait for this chapter. My old computer I was writing this on broke, so I had to have some files transferred over to this one, all of this took roughly 2 months, and then I was out of my flow and forgot where I was going with this chapter, then I got lazy and lost the will to write and yatta, yatta, yatta. Point is, I'm sorry dearest readers. It's probably going to seem a bit rushed in some places because... Well it is. I wanted this chapter done this year, so I kind of rushed. Also, I'd like to know if you readers would like me to keep putting the Judge speech at the beginning of each chapter. I'd like to, in order to keep a show-like feel to it. Keep the feedback coming, and enjoy the next chapter!**_

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><p>Inside of the warehouse, Bael, Jill, and Zack were hard at work on getting their Zoids up to top performance. Bael was doing hydraulic test on the Blade Liger's blades and legs. Jill was doing the same for her Command Wolf and Zack was adjusting the sights on the Gun Sniper's weapons. As Bael climbed down from the side of the Liger's leg, something strange caught his eye. A door in middle of the back wall was opened. This was odd because, as far as he knew, it just lead to a wall of rock since his dad had never added the underground extension. He left his Blade Liger's side for a moment to look. On the other side of the door was a dark hallway.<p>

"Hey guys?" Bael called out to the others. It was odd to him that he'd never actually bothered to check the door before. Jill opened the Command Wolf's cockpit while Zack leaned back from the scope, Jill climbing down from her Zoid.

"What is it now?" Jill asked. Bael didn't break his stare at the hallway, and stepped forward to the doorway.

"Did you guys know this was here?" Jill began walking over.

"Didn't you say It just led to a rock wall?" Bael was pretty sure it did, unless Matt had added on to the warehouse too.

"Oh yeah, I saw that Matt guy go in there earlier today, wonder what he's been in there so long." Zack noted before losing his footing and stumbling back, almost falling from the back of the Gun Sniper. Cautiously, Bael began to enter the hallway. The moment that he passed the threshold of the door, the lights came on without warning, illuminating the hallway with bright white lights. Despite this display, it was pretty featureless, just another door on the other side of an empty hallway... With no doorknob. Bael assumed it was a sliding door, but it should have moved by now if so. As Jill reached the doorway, Bael began to knock on the door. Jill lifted her hand, a Zoid gear computer clenched in it.

"Bael, you know that Zoid gear Matt dropped awhile back?" Bael turned back to her.

"Yeah..." They'd been keeping it laying around for awhile, not sure what to do with it.

"Shouldn't we sell it or something? It's just sort of collecting dust." It was true that they really didn't have much of a use for it, but it would be nice to have should they come across a fourth member. Before Bael could reply the door slid open, Matt standing by the doorway with his finger on a button.

"Oh, 'sup Bael? Left the door locked didn't I? Got sorta' caught up in workin' on the computer... TV... Thing." Behind him was a brightly lit, albeit old looking room. Everything was covered in dust or cobwebs. The furniture looked like it hadn't been touched in years.

"Oh yeah, wanted to ask ya', why don't yeh eva clean this place up?" Bael stepped past Matt, followed by Jill, who put the Zoid gear on a table to the side of the doorway. They were at awe at how... Open the place was. At least thrice the size of the small room they'd been staying in. There were even more doors around the room. As Matt and Bael got caught in conversation, Jill wandered off to explore the other rooms.

"Matt, I had no idea this place was here." Matt was caught off guard by this statement.

"You serious? Where you been stayin' all this time? The janitor's closet?" Bael froze. When he'd received the warehouse from his father, he moved a lot of things out of the small room, shelves, a few... Brooms and mops... He'd spent the last year of his life living in a janitor's closet.

"Matt, why didn't you ever tell me about this place?" Bael questioned, trying to get a good look at everything in this room. Clearly holding back a wave of laughter, Matt replied.

"Thought ya' knew. Yer' old man used to own it when you was a kid." At this point he was basically kicking Bael while he was down. Still, this was some good news, three people were taking up WAY too much space in that janitor's closet.

"Well, we do now. You said something about a computer right?" Matt walked over to a large screen that was built into the side of a wall, there were a few other areas of the wall, most likely for decorations or video players. Matt rested his hand at the top corner of the screen.

"Well, s'more of a TV, rigged it up so ya' could get yer' summons for battles." Bael had just remembered that teams didn't just magically know when they had they were matched up for battle. Speaking of which...

"So, do we have a battle?" Matt turned his head toward the screen.

"Y'know, I ain't even bothered to check. Lemme see..." Matt turned around and pressed a button to the side of the screen, which lit up onto the image of a Judge. For some reason, it's arms were crossed and it was looking up and away, mumbling to itself and clearly agitated.

"-oids battles are serious, I've never called such a bunch of disrespe-" The Judge stopped speaking and looked forward, despite the lack of ability to express, it's face being made of metal and all, it was clearly surprised.

"Oh, er... Greetings Scavenge Team leader! Your first battle will begin in three hours, your selected opponents are the Raptors Team. The coordinates have been uploaded into your Zoid gear. Best of luck to you in the first battle." At the end of this statement, the display returned to a being glossy wall of black. Matt looked back at the it.

"Huh, It's s'posed to stay on after that. Gonna haf'ta fix that." As Matt returned to working on the television, a small smile crept across Bael's face. His first battle since he was a kid in the Helcat. He'd have to get back into the swing of things, seeing as all he'd used Zoids for in the past were mostly small tests and excavation. The closest he'd come to a battle as of recent was firing at Pteras who weren't even firing back. But, this was still exciting for him, an actual battle. Bael exited through the hallway he'd entered through. Zack had finally climbed down from the Back of the Gun Sniper.

"Hey, what's with the smile?" Zack asked. Bael didn't answer right away, he instead walked over to the Gustav, climbing into the cockpit. Among the many additions to the Gustav he'd made over time, one of them was an intercom that worked for the whole warehouse. He grabbed the microphone, turning on the speaker.

"I have an announcement." Bael's amplified voice echoed through the warehouse.

"We have a Zoid battle!" Zack smirked, scrambling to climb back up the side of the Gun Sniper, completely ignoring the perfectly serviceable lift that was right next to him. He was, of course, failing miserably. Jill soon emerged from the doorway, though she was clearly less excited than Zack, it was obvious that she was filled with anticipation. Bael began to load up the Gustav's trailers while Zack and Jill finalized their fixes on their Zoid's weapons. Bael set the Gustav's guidance systems to the battlefield; one of Europa's many deserts. Maybe two hours away from the warehouse. Once the whole team was firmly seated in their Zoid's cockpits, the Gustav was off, leaving the Warehouse and Matt behind. It would still be a long ride, so some conversation over the radios was a good idea to pass time.

"So do we actually have a battle strategy here?" Zack asked. A very just question, there wasn't really much time to plan one. Bael was so excited about the battle that he hadn't even thought about what the plan was. Bael didn't have much time to think before Jill spoke up.

"Well from what I've got here..." Jill had already brought up the battle information on her Command Wolf's computer.

"They're just a bunch of Rev Raptors, I say we just have to unload, Bael could probably take them down with one charge, we just have to give him some covering fire." This struck Bael as a bit of a bad idea, seeing as the last time he'd tried to fight a Rev Raptor head on...

"So do either of you have any experience in Zoids battles?" Zack asked them both. Jill was the first to voice her experience.

"I used to be a member of a team, nothing too major, we were A-class, but we weren't too well known. I myself piloted a Hammerrock. It wa-" Jill tried to explain, only only to be interrupted by Zack.

"Piloted a Hammer-what? Is that even a real Zoid?" Jill gritted her teeth and grabbed the controls of the Command Wolf, more specifically to the controls to the long-range cannon. Zack had been getting on her nerves since his first day on the team and she was getting ready to show him just how much. Bael quickly tried to defuse the situation by explaining the Zoid to Zack.

"The Hammerrock is a pretty old Zoid, basically, a small scale Iron Kong." Jill eased her grip on the Command Wolf's controls, reassuring herself that a lack of knowledge was nothing to shoot at somebody for.

"As I was saying. It was pretty great, getting prize money, we had our own Whale King, I thought we'd go right to A class. And then 'He' showed up." Jill tried to control her anger to go on with her story. This memory always put her in a bad mood.

"He had a big fancy-shmansy Liger Aero and was looking for a team, and my 'Teammates' stopped using me in battle completely. I'm pretty sure they didn't even notice it when I left." They acted like her friends, they always praised her work on the battlefield and even got some money together to get her a larger Zoid, but when that pilot showed up in his souped up yellow Shield Liger, they instantly poured that money out for his services. Trying to move the conversation forward, Jill turned to look at the projection of the Gun Sniper's cockpit on the side of the Command Wolf's canopy.

"What about you Zack, if you're a merc, what work have you done?" Zack leaned back in his seat, resting his hands on the back of his head.

"First off, I'm not a mercenary, I just owe a few... Less than choice people some less than choice favors." He removed his left hand from the back of his head, holding up two fingers.

"And second, I've mostly done work with the Gun Sniper here, support in case things got hairy for the folks that hired me. Always wanted a Snipe master, but since these were favors instead of paid jobs..." Zack shrugged.

"Point is, I could shoot a fly's wings off with the Gun Sniper's gun." Bael sighed, it was his turn to tell his story, his would be the worst.

"My... Uh... My first Zoid was a Hel Cat. A gift from my dad after he saved up prize money from his Zoid battles." Bael closed his eyes, struggling to put the past events into words.

"It was so simple, I ran around the desert outside of town, it felt so great to pilot a Zoid of my own. Then, I got a bit too cocky. Thought my ability to break down sand dunes made me an ace pilot. I felt powerful, like my Zoid and I could take on the world." Bael lowered his head, remembering how his first battle had been such a horrible one.

"There was this traveling pilot, he did unsanctioned battles with anybody ready to fight him, and I was just sure enough of myself to oblige." The image was clear in his head. He'd stood opposed to the pilot's Rev Raptor, the start of the match had been marked by the extension of the Raptor's counter blades. The battle, if he could even call it that, was short. The massive machines charged toward each-other. Bael's Hel Cat leaping through the air to attack with it's only weapon, it's weight. As the Zoid reached the height of it's jump the Rev Raptor leaped up. In one swift motion, the blade cleanly cut through the Hel Cat's torso. What was left of the Zoid fell to the ground with enough force to leave Bael unconscious. After the fall, A series of explosions had ripped through the Zoid, triggering the Zoid's automatic ejector seat. He woke up in the Cockpit of his father's Debison, being carried away from the burning wreck of his Hel Cat.

"The battle was... Not so good." Bael didn't want to go into detail about it to them, that might kill a bit of team morale. He would not have much time to dwell on it either, as the Gustav came to a stop. Zack's Zoid was the first to step off of the trailers.

"This the Battlefield? Heh, other team's late." Zack laughed to himself as Bael and Jill's Zoids left the trailers soon after.

"Actually, no. The Battlefield is about ten miles in that direction, we'll probably get there at the last second." Bael stated, as both he and Jill began lazily walking away from the Gustav. Zack stared at the Gustav for a moment before turning back to his team.

"Hey wait a minute!" He called out, quickly moving to join the others. He also quickly voiced an obvious question.

"Why are we leaving the Gustav here? Shouldn't we be save our time by just riding?" The Blade Liger's head turned toward the Gun Sniper.

"It's an unused Zoid, it counts as unauthorized personnel. I don't feel like wasting everyone's time by programming it to leave." Bael had at least thought that far ahead, he still wasn't entirely sure about Jill's plan though. After awhile, three Zoids began to come into view, the Rev Raptors. One was different from the others, jet black with a silver canopy cover. They came to the assumption that it's pilot was the leader. As they came to a stop a familiar image to most Zoid pilots began to descend from the sky. A Judge capsule. It seemed that Bael was right, they did get there at the last second. The white capsule was enveloped in flames from it's entrance of Zi's atmosphere.

"I've never seen a Judge capsule this close before!" Bael excitedly announced. The capsule quickly and violently found it's way to the ground, the shock-waves of the impact vibrating through the nearby Zoids. The cloud of sand in the air quickly dissipated, revealing a crater with a white circle in the ground at the bottom. It began to rise from the crater, sand sliding down it's sides. Two small locks that sealed it shut opened, allowing the front of the capsule to do the same. Inside was a small stand with a dark green screen behind it. In the center of the stand was a white robot, a Judge. An alarm began to sound and the Judge announced the battle.

"The area within a ten mile radius is a designated Zoid battlefield. This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry." While the Judge announced, Jill went over the plan once more.

"Alright Bael, you're going to charge them, Zack and I will spread out and gun them down from a distance, you got that?" Bael nodded, reassuring himself. He had this, he was in the zone, he was ready. The alarm that emanating from the Judge capsule began to fade, it was time for the battle.

"The Scavenge Team versus The Raptors Team. Battlemode 0-9-8-2. Ready... FIGHT!" With the crossing of the Judge's arms, the battle commenced. The Rev Raptors were off in a flash, followed closely the Blade Liger. The Command Wolf and the Gun Sniper quickly broke away from the charge. The Liger and the Raptors were left closing in on each-other, and Bael had an easy idea on how to soften them up, use the E-shield. Bael found it odd none of the Raptors had engaged their counter-blades yet. As the Raptors were finally within a few hundred yards, Bael activated the shield. The panels around the Blade Liger's head extended, a transparent, lavender colored, oval shaped shield formed around the front of the Blade Liger. Almost as soon as the shield was up, two of the Raptors split off, easily swerving around it. The lead Raptor, however, did something surprising. It stopped dead in it's tracks, it's larger inner toe claws locked into the ground. It's blades extended, and an identical shield, albeit smaller, to the Blade Liger's formed around it.

The shields collided, the Rev Raptor recoiled against the force of the much larger Zoid pushing against it. Sparks flew off the the shields as the Raptor pushed back. It was pushing back. _Pushing back. _Bael wondered how this was even possible. How could a Rev Raptor hold him back like this? While the two Zoids struggled, the other Raptors turned around, aiming their arm mounted beam cannons at the hind section of the Blade Liger, the one area of it that wasn't covered by the shield. They opened fire, sending a barrage of beams directly at the Liger. They all hit home, the damage was too great and the Liger's shield shut down. Now without a shield, it fell into the Raptor's shield, repelling it backwards.

The other Raptors ceased their fire and spread off toward Jill and Zack, drawing their blades. Leaving Bael alone with their leader. Jill came to a stop at about the stop at the around same time As Zack. As she turned to begin firing on the Raptors she realized that Bael had failed to hold them off, seeing the Liger laying on the ground. Thankfully enough, being a former team tactician, she'd come up with a backup plan for such an event. This Command Wolf had come with a built in smokescreen. She reached down at the control panel and flipped a small switch. A plume of black smoke erupted from vents on the Zoid's upper legs.

The Raptor disappeared into the smoke while Zack was already in combat with the other Raptor. The Raptor continually charged toward it, the Gun Sniper leaping out of the way with the help of the thrusters attached to the back of the missile launchers.. Zack raised the Gun Sniper's arms, taking aim at the still charging Raptor with duel machine guns. He began firing, a rapid series of small rounds shooting at the Raptor. As if he was firing at a spec of dust, every single shot missed. He probably should have learned how to adjust the sights on the guns before he tried to do so. The default on the his guns had always been perfect, so working on it himself had probably been a mistake. Zack ducked down just in time before the Raptor's counter blade whirred over Gun Sniper's head.

"HA! You missed!" Zack cheered. While he began to turn around to try to shoot the Raptor down again, but noticed that his radar had just went down. This is when he realized that he'd just gotten the 3d radar antenna on the his Zoid's head cut off.

"NO! I only had two of those!" The Gun Sniper began it's assault on the Rev Raptor and bright flashes began to light up the slowly shrinking mass of black smoke. Jill and Zack's battles raged on as Bael was trying to get the Liger on it's feet. The lead Raptor stood above him.

"You know, if you give up now, your Zoid will stay in one piece." The Rev Raptor's pilot spoke over the radio. Bael attempted to make the Blade Liger stand, it's front leg began to push against the ground, but the Rev Raptor's pilot took aim at him with it's beam guns. Bael stopped.

"Come on, try me." The Liger's shield didn't have any energy left, and he couldn't act without being gunned down. He only had one chance to get out of this, he'd have to be quick if he wanted to pull off the shot. Bael grabbed a handle on the left side of the Blade Liger's control panel, pulling it back as quickly as he could. As he did, the blade on the back of the Liger rose up, and pointed forward over it's head. It was all or nothing, Bael mashed the button at the top of the handle down, the pulse laser gun atop the the blade fired... And it missed. He had just missed a shot at point blank.

"Wow. I almost feel bad for you. That was. The single. Most pathetic shot. I've ever seen." Bael could not believe it. Point blank. _POINT BLANK_. He knew he wasn't good in battle, but he at least expected to land a hit once. The Raptor's counter blades extended.

"S'a real shame. I expected a Blade Liger to be a challenge." The Raptor raised it's foot from the ground, only to stop, as a voice came over it's radio. Jill's voice.

"You're going to want to step away from the Zoid now." The Rev Raptor's head rose to the sight of the Command Wolf and Gun Sniper, standing a little closer than he'd feel comfortable with. In the distance, the other two Raptors were laying on the ground, smoke rising from them.

"Does the lady need to repeat herself?" The Gun Sniper raised it's arms, aiming it's two twin machine guns at the Raptor.

"Do you really think that I'm going to step down just like that?" The Raptor turned from Bael and toward the others. The Raptor raised it's beam guns forward, aiming one at both of the Zoids. With a bright flash, the Command Wolf's long range cannon fired, piercing the left leg of the Rev Raptor. Almost immediately, the important electronics and other such things that kept the leg extended, failed all at once. Slowly, without the support of it's leg, the Zoid fell onto it's side, snapping one of it's counter blades like a twig and covering it with sand. With the Zoid now down, and, to the complete anger of it's pilot, the command system frozen, the battle officially had gone to the Scavenge team. That, and the loud buzz of the Jude Capsule's siren playing over the battlefield.

"Battle over! Battle over! The winner is..." The Judge began to announce, raising it's right arm that was ended with a blue panel.

"The Scavenge Team!" Bael was pretty disappointed in himself, despite the fact that they'd still won the match. It was definitely not the triumphant beginning he had hoped for. It was a far cry out from his first battle, but he was kept down by a single Rev Raptor. The massive cover of the Judge Capsule began to lower and shut, the locks re-sealing closely after. Rockets in the bottom of the Capsule ignited, thrusting the Capsule into the sky, returning to the satellite that had launched it. Bael looked on, finally getting his Zoid off of the ground. What had went wrong? Why did it have a shield? How on Zi could it have managed to hold back an _entire _Blade Liger? That question repeated in it's head as the group rode home on the Gustav.

Zack kept cheering for himself over the big first victory, it was his first actual battle with rules and regulations. Jill had won battles before, but she still felt better about entering a battle with a team again. Still, this question was wrapped around Bael's head like a sweatband. He knew a lot about Zoids, not so much the piloting, but he needed to know just how that Raptor held him back. Quick to gloat, Zack began to talk about how awesome he was in the fight.

"Did you see that? I just pinned the thing to the ground and lit it up!" At least he could be excited about their victory. Once they got back to the warehouse, Bael made a B-line for his computer, not even noticing that Matt had finished repairing the television. He needed to do research on how this could even happen. He opened every page on E-shields and Rev Raptors he could. For the rest of the day, he just kept reading up on everything he could.

Bael stumbled out of the room he had claimed as his own. He'd been up half of the night doing all the research he could and he could not find one thing that he could compare to what had happened the previous day. As he stumbled toward the refrigerator, he could hear Jill, who was yelling into their new home's telephone.

"I don't care if it wasn't registered as our Zoid, it was stolen from us and I want justice!" She was clearly talking... Yelling about her Genosaurer, and most likely to the battle commission.

"Fine! No... Wait, a minute, hold on." She leaned away from the phone, covering the lower half of the phone with her hand.

"Bael, you up awake yet?" She called out. Bael looked in the direction of her voice, his eyes were squinted and he was so tired that he wasn't entirely sure were he was at the moment.

"Yuh..." Bael mumbled. He'd only managed to get about two hours of sleep.

"Did you register us for the Grand Cup yet?" Bael's tired saggy eyes snapped open. He had completely forgotten that he had to actually _register _for the Grand Cup. It was a good thing she'd reminded them. He quickly located Jill, his still tired body stumbling in her direction.

"Thanks for reminding me. Sort of forgot." Bael laughed, trying to play off the fact that, had Jill not reminded him, they wouldn't have been registered. Jill already knew by the way he was laughing, her former teammates laughed like that when they missed the registration for the the Royal cup, but passed him the phone all the same.

"You're leader, you should register." Another thing occurred to Bael. He did start the team, so, technically, he was the leader. Kind of a lame leader to be beaten in his first fight ever, especially in a Blade Liger. Jill handed the phone off to him, proceeding to take a seat on the nearby couch.

"Um yes, I'd like to register my team for the Grand Cup. Yes. The Scavenge team. Uh huh... Understood." Bael hung up the phone fairly quickly after that, he didn't seem to have much of a reason why, and Jill wondered how he could have registered so fast.

"What was that? Don't you need to go into more detail than that?" Jill asked. Bael had already turned himself to face the door leading to the outer area of the warehouse.

"Oh, yeah, it's a lot simpler with the new Zoid gear registrations, I just need to punch a few things into the Blade Liger's computer and we'll be golden." Bael, in a honesty, was terrified about entering. Any class of pilot except S could enter this tournament. Pilots with much better Zoids than his team. He did not want to have to be carried by his team. He needed to improve his style.

"Hey, Bael." Jill's voice snapped him out of his worried line of thought. Which is something he really needed to happen.

"What happened in the battle yesterday? I wasn't exactly expecting a complete beat-down, but you should have lasted at the very least five minutes." And now it was something else Bael was dreading. Talking about his failure.

"I was a little caught off guard by the fact that a Rev Raptor could hold off the Liger's shield." He didn't even want to start thinking about that again, crunching the numbers and everything else from last night left him with one serious headache when he woke up, and he didn't need to think about it for one more minute.

"Bael, I think you need to learn a few things about Zoid battles. I ran through the recordings of the battle an-" Jill tried to explain, only to be stopped by a loud, confused, and hard to describe noise from Bael.

"WUH?! Recordings? What recordings?" Bael was more than a little concerned that there were recordings of his incredible failure.

"Most battle commission battles are televised, with all that Zoid trivia you're always talking about, I assumed you would know that." A painful realization for Bael, to say the least. People all across Zi had seen how pathetic his first battle had been for him. The fact that they had still won was not much of a cushion for that fact. But he was not going to be completely put off, he would do better, the Grand cup only five days away, and he was not going to go down in his next match. And an idea finally struck him on how to at least improve. He shook off his worry about the last battle and asked a question.

"Jill, you said that you used to be on a team right?" Jill nodded, though she wasn't sure what the significance was.

"Then I have a request. Do you think you can show me any tips to piloting you might have picked up?" Bael was didn't particularly comfortable asking for help, he'd been that way since he took up his job of restoring Zoids. He was a, learn on the fly kind of person in most fields. Then again, he'd never faced a failure as bad as that battle. Jill smiled, with only two fights under his belt, Bael was definitely a novice, and she was happy to help.

"Sure. Get the Gustav and bring some of those rubber tip rounds." Matt had decided that it would be a good idea to invest in rubber tipped rounds, in case the team really did need the practice, without destroying their Zoids. With those words, Jill removed herself from the couch, and left through the hallway to the outer area of the warehouse. Passing the Gun Sniper's foot on the way to her Command Wolf.

"Matt, we're going out. Keep an eye on Zack." Even if he was a member of the team now, Jill didn't trust him. Once a bandit, always a bandit. Zack Stood atop his Gun Zoid's head, watching Matt as he worked on the newly installed 3D radar antenna. Matt nodded in acknowledgment, trying to stay as hard at work as possible. Zack looked down at his teammates, and he was in every mood to taunt them after putting up with Jill's constant distrust.

"See you two lovebirds later." Zack snickered to himself, making kissing motions at the air. Jill and Bael weren't bothered by it, both just ignoring the comment. After mounting their Zoids up on the Gustav, it was not a long drive in the Gustav to a open patch of desert a few miles away from the warehouse. Bael knew it was going to be a long day, but he had no idea just how long.

"Alright Bael." Jill began over the radio. The Command Wolf and the Liger faced eachother, separated by a few hundred feet. Bael was more than a little intimidated. She had a lot more experience than him, and he had a feeling that it was going to be a long day. Putting those thoughts to the side, he got the Liger ready to charge.

"No using your blades. We already had to spend a lot of our prize money on repairs after last battle, we don't need to spend any more." Bael nodded.

"On three." Jill started, both of the Zoids stretched out slightly, preparing to attack.

"One..." Jill continued, tensing up the Command Wolf's feet.

"Three!" Jill yelled, a little too happy for Bael's liking. The jump right to three had caught him off guard, the Wolf was already running and the Blade Liger had barely even moved forward. Still, there wasn't much to do about it now, the fight was on.

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><p>The Raptors team were gathered around their leader's wrecked Zoid. The leader himself watched his wrist intently, the watch wrapped around it slowly ticking away.<p>

"Hey boss, when's are those, what'cha call em' guys gonna get here? It is way too hot out here!" One of his teammates asked, laying in the shade of the Rav Raptor's shadow and trying to fan himself with a small piece of chipped metal.

"Chimera innovators, learn the names if you're gonna ask." Their leader stated, annoyed by their incompetence and his own failure. Without warning, his watch began to emit a high-pitched beeping noise, two beeps every second. He looked up, watching a sand dune for his employer. A light rumble began to shake the sand around their feet, causing them to sink into the sand. Suddenly, in an explosion of sand, a large Zoid burst from the ground, leaping into the air. It looked somewhat like an extremely bulked up version of a Warshark, but with a tall, pronounced fin on it's back, and a horizontal tail fin. It was a sandy tan color, two white patches directly above the red 'eyes' of it's cockpit. It was also big, very big. At least large enough to carry several small Zoids. It's body contorted in the air, now facing downward, as it dived into the sand again.

"There they are." The team's leader was less than surprised, much unlike his teammates, who pulled their feet out of their sand-locked shoes to run for the cover of the Raptor wreck. Sand on the surface above this Zoid parted as it practically swam through it, slightly slowing as it approached the Raptors team. It quickly came to a stop, surfacing next to the wrecked Raptor. Their leader walked forward, waiting for the pilot to exit. Three large panels on the Zoid's side opened, revealing three new Rev Raptors inside large cargo bays, appearing to be fresh from the assembly line. The middle one was purple, with two large pile bunkers attached to both sides. From the farthest left most panel, a man stepped out, coming forward to meet with the Raptor team's leader.

"We observed your battle, and we are impressed with your coordination when using our shield tether devices." He began.

"However, your loss is not setting well with our benefactors, and unless you can win a battle using it, we cannot put it in mass production. We are hoping you don't fail us again." The Raptor's team leader nodded respectfully. With this statement, the man began to return to the strange Zoid, calling out to the other members of the crew.

"Get these antiques out of my Dune Ceta! Take the scrap parts" This man was but one member of Chimera innovators, an underground Zoid development team who salvage parts from old Zoids in order to create newer Zoids. A small former branch of the Backdraft group, once it was shut down by the Zoids Battle Commission, Chimera took what was left of their work and began to put it to use. They had been mostly keeping under the Battle Commission's radar until they were sure they'd lowered their guard. Now it was time. Time to mobilize. Time to take the commission down in favor of their own commission. Time to finish what the Backdraft started. Their tests were about to begin.

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><p>The Blade Liger skidded across the sand after being shot to the ground once again by the Command Wolf. It was painted with dents and dings all across it's side. Jill was getting a bit frustrated. She expected that the Blade Liger would have at least scratched the paint on her Zoid. Bael really wasn't a very good pilot.<p>

"You know Bael, if running at me and hoping to headbutt me isn't working the first time, maybe you should try something else." Bael got the Liger off of the ground for what seemed like the tenth time today, turning it in the Command Wolf's direction and once again starting to bare down on it.

"Bael, charging in blindly is not going to work." Jill was annoyed that she continually had to remind him, AND that he was ignoring her advice. He was the one who asked for her help anyway, yet here he was again, blindly running toward her instead of thinking things through. It was going to be the same thing again, Bael was going to run at the Command Wolf, no use of any sort strategy and she was just going to jump out of the way and shoot him with the long range cannon. After five times in a row, one would think he'd learn that it wasn't going to work. And yet still he persisted. It was baffling to Jill, to say the least. As Bael got close, Jill once again jumped out of the way. A large blue panel on the Blade Liger's back raised, revealing a small rocket booster.

Jill didn't have much time to react as the boosters ignited and turned right, sending the Blade Liger flying to the left and directly into her Zoid. Slamming it against the sand and chipping off a great deal of small metal fragments from the armor of the Command Wolf. Bael shut the boosters down began to turn around.

"I never did expect it to work. I was just looking for a pattern." It wasn't normal of Bael to get cocky, but he was feeling a little high and mighty after knocking the Command Wolf down, unfortunately, his Blade Liger followed quickly after, still carrying all of it's momentum and the turn causing it to trip over. Bael grunted, bringing his Liger back to it's feet. The Command Wolf had already beaten it to the punch, and just as Bael began to turn in Jill's direction, yet another giant slug of rubber fired into the side of the Blade Liger, knocking it back down again.

"Come on Bael, If you're going to keep trying the same thing, at least try to learn something!" Jill would have had a bit of a point, if Bael hadn't been doing that from the start. Okay, maybe tht was a bit of a stretch, but he had been watching her moves very after his third or fourth attempt. He'd picked up on a few movements, each time she'd move out of the way, her Command Wolf's legs would tense up and buckle slightly to give it the extra spring to leap out of the Liger's path. She also never landed facing directly towards him, so she had to rotate the cannon for roughly one second. He'd run it through his head as the Zoids took their places parallel to each-other.

"One more time Bael, then I'm going to have to call Zack in." Hopefully she wouldn't need to. As all the previous times, Bael began a mad dash in the Command Wolf's direction, Jill heaved a frustrated sigh. This guy was never gonna learn. She pulled back slightly on the Zoid's controls, slightly lowering it's stance. Bael saw his first chance. The blades rose up over it's head, it's pulse laser guns firing on the Command Wolf. This was certainly new to Jill. He knew how to fire his guns. Though, clearly not very accurately. His shots scattered around her Zoid's feet. She quickly leaped back once again, this time making sure the gap was larger this time. For once, he didn't try that again, but disappeared into the cloud of dust that had rose from his earlier shots. Jill once again adjusted her long-range cannon on his position and fired.

"Alright, I'm getting Zack out h-" Her words were cut shut when the cloud of dust began to shift, as if being caught on something big and... Round. Her eyes widened as she saw the Blade Liger's shield, which was now moving in her direction. In a panic, Jill began made the Command Wolf begin to backpedal as best it could.

"Okay Bael, let's just, just call that I win! I don't want my Zoid to need any more repairs. ." Bael's Liger came to a stop and his shield began to fade.

"So, how'd I do there?" Bael asked eagerly, hoping that this qualified as a _good _win. Jill heaved another sigh, now one of relief that her Zoid wasn't going to hit by a giant wall of hard light.

"Better. But... 14 losses, a tie and a win do not make a victory" Jill's words stiffened a frown out of Bael. It was a bit of a downer. Soon afterward though, a smile began to sneak up on him. If that didn't make a victory, then maybe fifteen would.

"Then I guess we have to keep going don't we?" Bael's Liger even seemed to pick up on this, as it roared impatiently. Jill knew that voice, that tone. True determination. This was to be the first of many of his own personal victories. Jill let a quiet laugh out.

"Spoken like a true pilot."

* * *

><p>When they finally returned to the warehouse, their Zoids were out of ammo and covered in rubber bullet induced dents. Zack sat in what they'd now decided to call the meeting room, watching a Zoid battle on the TV with the volume <em>WAY <em>too loud for your average viewer. .

"It's about time you guys got back! While you two wer busy making out, a Judge called!" He loudly announced over the sound of the even louder Zoid battle playing out on the screen.

"Said the Raptors team want a rematch!" Bael and Jill looked at each-other. Bael looked a little frightened by the prospect of facing them again, while he had improved today, he wouldn't be able to live down being shamed by them again. Especially with that weird overly strong lead Raptor... Although it may have been damaged, maybe he had a better chance this time. Jill could see the change in his face, and it was the one she was looking for when she'd heard of a rematch. Sureness. Readiness. Properly directed determination.

"Zack, we are accepting that rematch!" Bael curled his hand into a fist, this time was going to be different. No more repeats. No more mistakes. Just pure victory. Zack turned off the TV.

"Oh, I already accepted it." Bael lost his balance for a moment, nearly falling over. Even if he hadn't been ready, he was in this battle.

* * *

><p>The next day they were a bit more punctual in their arrival, a whole two minutes early! Once again, the Judge fell at hundreds of miles an hour, burning red hot from it's descent. In another explosion of now burned and glassy sand, it crashed into the ground. As it had two days prior, the judge capsule raised from the ground as the two teams stared each-other down. The Raptors team looked strangely better for ware than they should have, even the lead Raptor had a massive pair of pile bunkers and what looked like a new paint job. Either that or they just replaced their old Zoids, which would be a complete waste of a perfectly good Zoid in Bael's mind.<p>

"The Scavenge Team versus the Raptors Team." The Judge went off on it's usual pre-battle speech. Jill once again took the chance to discuss the plan.

"Bael, same plan as last time. Think you can handle it?" Jill asked, more out of concern than anything than anything else. He had improved, but that didn't mean he was really ready. She didn't get a verbal answer out of Bael, just a nod. His expression was stern and one not to be taken lightly.

"Battlemode: 0-9-8-2. Ready... FIGHT!" The Blade Liger's rocket boosters deployed, raising from the panel on it's back. Before the rest of the team's Zoids could move, Bael took off like a giant blue bullet across the open desert, leaving Jill and Zack in a cloud of sandy dust.

"Bael! Slow down! We need to reach a..." Jill stopped herself, he was already well out of her Zoid's megaphone's earshot. Jill and Zack quickly tried to make their way to their firing points. This time Bael knew that he could do it. The Rev Raptors took off closely after, moving in the same formation as the prior battle. _'Not this time'_. It echoed in his head as the Raptors drew closer. The Liger's blades rose, rotating forward over it's head, the barrels of it's pulse laser guns aiming forward. Blasts of blue light bolted out of them, narrowly missing the evasive Raptors.

An idea snapped into Bael's mind. He pulled the blades back and engaged the E-shield, running toward the lead Raptor again. As last time, the two other Raptors broke formation, going along after passing Bael, then the lead Raptor locked it's claws to the ground and it's own shield raised. As the shields collided again, the opposing team's leader spoke over the Zoids' radio systems.

"Funny, here I thought you were going to mix things up a little. What a shame." As last time, his shield held up against the Liger's. Bael looked back at the projections from the rear facing cameras, he looked carefully at the other two Raptors. They were slowing down... His face changed from concentration to a smirk. _'I knew it!'. _He knew there was only one way that a Rev Raptor could stop a Liger dead in it's tracks like that, and he was about to exploit it. He rotated the Liger's boosters the slightly to the left. The Liger began to slowly slide sideways across the shield, and began walking to match.

Bael looked back again, seeing one of the Rev Raptors having stopped in it's tracks and struggling to move forward. He smiled. The crackpot theory he had last night was correct completely right. He fully rotated the boosters, sliding along sideways and leaving the other Raptor tumbling across the desert ground in a cloud of sand. It's combat system froze from the shock. Seeing this, Bael disabled the boosters, stopping his Liger short of falling on it's side. The lead Raptor unlocked it's claws and turned, just in time for the pilot to see a blurry lavender shape barreling into him.

The Zoid's shield seemed to shatter as it flew backwards through the air, barely managing to right itself before landing. The pilot's shield had no more power, but he still had one backup plan. Bael had stopped moving, the shock of his plan actually working freezing him in place. The raptor charged forward, the long metal rods of the pile bunkers drawing back. By the time Bael snapped out of his cheerful trance, the Raptor was standing in front of his shield. With a loud release of white-hot air, the metal rods erupted forward, punching two large holes through the Liger's shield before it flickered out of existence.

"Close, but not close enough!" The Raptor's arms reached forward, the beam cannons mounted on the sides pointed at the Blade Liger's front legs. As he beam cannons fired, Bael only had seconds to duck as the blast grazed the top of the Liger's leg armor. Bael took his chance, he raised one of the Liger's pulse laser guns over it's head... And fired. The beam exploded against the Raptor's chest, the Zoid fell back, it's combat system had frozen.

"Boss!" The other Rev Raptor pilot called over the radio as his Zoid sprinted toward Bael. What he got wasn't a response, but a warning on the Zoid's display screen. 'Warning, enemy lock-on' it flashed again and again. He wasn't locked on to any target, so that had to mean... Before he could ponder much, a storm of missiles rained down on his Zoid.

"I think I got him!" Zack joked, smoke raising from the missile pods on the Gun Sniper's back.

"Battle over! Battle over! The winner is... The Scavenge Team!" The judge once again announced, the loud siren sounding over the area again. Bael paused for a moment, the outside world becoming non-existent in his mind. He wasn't sure if it was the rush of his plan working perfectly, or the adrenaline that rushed through him when the Rev Raptor broke his shield, but he just had a strange feeling at that moment. Something primal in response to his own personal victory. He raised the Blade Liger's head, and it unleashed a loud, powerful, and victorious roar.

* * *

><p><em><strong>FINALLY DONE. See you guys next year. Starting then, I hope to start getting chapters out weekly, but I don't want to rush the chapters and kill the quality AND I know how things went with my last story when I started making promises, it hasn't been updated in over a year. Now here's a fact: According to the Zoids vs. series of games, if two shields collided, they would fizzle each-other out, or maybe knock both users down but for the sake of this story, they don't. I'm not actually sure if that was addressed in the anime or elsewhere. I plan to cut the next chapter down some, and yeah, you were right. Jill kind of reminds me of Misty too. Especially with my original plan for her to have come from a watery background, which I changed promptly when I noticed it. Reviews welcome, let me know if I missed any Zs, because my Z key stopped working some time in September (Thank goodness for ALT and the Numpad.)<strong>_

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><p>"<em>The grand cup is a tournament style Zoids battle championship, open to pilots of all skill levels."<em>

"_I can't even pick them up on my radar!" _

"_Meant to be fair for every class of team that may enter."_

"_Why is it an A rank team!?" _

"_The Scavenge team versus The Huntsmen team! Ready?... Fight!"_

"_Next time on Zoids, The Grand Cup begins! Foxes in the shadows. See you on the battlefield!" _


	3. Grand Cup Begins! Foxes In The Shadows

_**Zoids: Tales of the Scavenge team.**_

_**Chapter 3: The Grand Cup begins! Foxes in the shadows. **_

_**I'm back! Enjoyable winter holiday to all! After a year of Laziness I got my butt in gear and get some work done, more word on how future updates will come in the second author's note. I'd still like to know if I should put the Judge speech at the beginning of each chapter or not. Let me know if you'd like that. Lastly, you'll notice a difference in writing style compared to the previous chapters (granted I haven't updated them yet), and that's because it's been a year and my style has changed. Enjoy the chapter, unless you don't enjoy it, that's fine too. Either way, feel free to pop a review on over here... And... Yeah. Have a good day.**_

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><p>"Where are they?" In a forest at the base of Mt. Isolina, a trio of white Shield Ligers trotted alongside each-other. They had been chasing the opposing team for almost an hour now, and only guessing their position based on short flashes of color darting past the treeline. They had decided to move together for safety purposes. Suddenly, one of them stopped and turned it's head, the pilot had spotted a short-lived blip on his radar. Allowing his team to proceed without him, he moved to it's location and began looking around. No sign of whatever it was.<p>

"Dutch, where'd you run off to? Are you trying to get yourself taken down?" He stopped and turned back, realizing that he had just made a huge mistake. He'd allowed himself to get separated from the group. Then the attack began. Before he could even register what was happening, the wave of bright flashes that heralded gunfire were upon his Zoid. Meanwhile, the other two Ligers were quickly bounding in his direction, hearing nothing by screams of terror and pain coming from his Zoid's radio. By the time they found him, his Liger was laying in a smoking heap on the ground.

"Strike laser claw!" A pair of voices came over the Ligers' radios. As with their teammate, before they could understand what was happening to them, the sharp force of a pair of bright glowing claws dug into their Zoids' backs. In a bright explosion of metal and sparks, the shock of the impact shut down the Ligers' combat systems. "Battle over! Battle over! The winner is... The Huntsmen team!" Around the now broken down Ligers, a trio of Zoids stood, their dull blue armor painted nearly black under the cover of the trees, only made clear by what little moonlight broke through them.

They were Shadow Foxes, and they had just won their battle the _same way _that they always had for the_ ninth time in a row_. They raised their heads to the sky, and sounded their Zoids' synchronized, whining howls.

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><p>Bael was hauling a wrecked Dark Horn across the desert, back to the warehouse for restoration, he wasn't about to let his new second job get in the way of his old one. He hadn't had much time to do restorations lately and he wanted to get back to it before he got rusty at it.<p>

_**Beep**_

Restoration was still his passion. It was his dad's job before he retired and he'd left the warehouse and his tools in Bael's capable hands.

_**Beep**_

Such a great man, taught him everything he knew. From fixing a damaged combat system to improving a Zoid's performance. Bael owed everything to his father, he wouldn't even have a job right now if it weren't for him. He didn't have any particular skills outside of his mechanic work, but not many people outside of the local cities even used cars, they were mostly pilots who traveled in their Zoids. His dad showed him how a Zoid could be repaired just like a car, a really, _REALLY big car._ Still, he was surprised that he found another skill in the form of Zoid batt-

_**Beep**_

And what on Zi was that beeping? He'd been thinking way too much and wasn't paying much attention to the world outside his own head. Once he'd finally snapped back into the present, he realized that the beeping was the Gustav's on-board phone, making the familiar '_You've got a message' _beep. He guessed that someone must have called earlier while he was getting the Dark Horn out of the ground. Looking across the Gustav's dashboard, it began to dawn on him that he may have installed a few too many features in this thing when it took him a few minutes to find the message button.

"_You have TEN new messages." _

Or maybe he had the phone's ringer off... He wondered why he had so many messages though, he didn't usually get that many calls.

"_Message ONE." _

"Bael, where the heck are you? Did you forget what today is?" Jill's voice yelled through the speakers, Bael didn't really remember anything happening today, that's why he went wreck hunting. Still, it sounded kind of important.

"_Message TWO."_

"COME ON! WE'VE GOT A SOMEWHERE TO BE IN... AN HOUR!" Bael must have missed a summons for a battle while he was gone, this was no longer a leisure drive, he pushed the Gustav's throttle forward, bringing it to it's top speed.

"_Message THREE."_

"Bael... I am not going to be missing the start of the Grand Cup because you won't pick up your stupid phone!" The world suddenly froze around Bael as the realization dawned on him. It was exactly what she had said, the day of the Grand Cup's beginning. He had completely forgotten... He immediately panicked. Sure, he had registered before already, but if you didn't check in at the Battle Commission you were booted out! He opened a glass cover that contained lever on the dashboard, grabbing it as fast as he could.

"_Message FOUR."_

"Bael? Please answer, Jill's going ballistic, I'm hiding behind a rock outside, please come back to-... She's in the Command Wolf..." Zack seemed just as panicked as he was, probably a little more. Bael pulled the lever, decoupling the Dark Horn's trailer and getting as much extra speed to get back to the Warehouse as possible. The rest of the messages were incoherent babbling from Zack as he begged for Bael to get back. The first thing he saw when he arrived were the several giant chunks of rock and dirt that seemed to have been blown off of the nearby cliff, the remaining bits of stone scattered around the ground and a rather large hole in the warehouse's ceiling.

The next thing he noticed was the the Command Wolf standing at the base of the cliff, smoke trailing off from the barrel of it's long-range cannon. "Um, I'm... Back..." The Command Wolf's head turned, glancing back at him for a moment before it's body began to turn with it. Bael considered the fact that this might not have been the wisest way to come back to the warehouse, because now there was a Command Wolf with an angry pilot barreling down him. "Bael!" Jill shouted in a long, drawn out yell. Bael knew that he was in for it now. She was furious! They were probably going to miss the Grand Cup anyway now that the Gustav would be... Totaled... Bael got an Idea. He pressed his finger to the radio transmission button on the Gustav's dashboard.

"Zack, cancel our registration, we're about to lose our ride to the battle commission." The feet of the Command Wolf gripped the ground, skidding across it before coming to a stop in front of the Gustav. Jill was about to say something, but she stopped as she found herself without any words. Bael was right, she couldn't just attack the Gustav because she was angry. He had just effectively trapped her without a counter argument, which was something not many people knew how to do. Mostly since they, including Bael, we usually in the wrong. In her opinion, he still was, but he still had a point. If she snapped and broke the Gustav, they wouldn't have a ride. "Okay, I'm going to go load up the other trailers, get your Zoids ready." And now the way Bael sounded so cocky about it was making her angrier.

Unfortunately, she couldn't argue, she was not about to ruin the Grand Cup for herself. Bael got the spare trailers hooked up in the warehouse while Jill convinced Zack to come out of his hiding place. It was a very tense ride to The Battle Commission's nearest building. Everyone argued on the way there. Jill was complaining about Bael forgetting the Grand Cup, and with good reason. He was the one who arranged them to enter, he should not have just forgot. Zack complained about Jill's temper. She was always getting into fights with him claiming that he stole something from her. He had debts to repay, but he wasn't a thief by trade! Bael was complaining about his teammates' complaints. Their match wasn't going to end well if all they do is fight.

Luckily, about a half an hour later they arrived at their destination. The local Battle Commission building. The place was packed, Whale Kings dotted the parking lot, if you could even call it that. There were Gustavs and even a few Hover Cargoes, all with their own unique paint jobs scattered about the large plain of asphalt. Bael stopped when he spotted a gold colored Whale King, he recognized that one. "Hey guys, do you know who that Whale King belongs to?" He asked, prompting his team to stop and stare at it. It looked kind of run-down. Jill in particular found it familiar.

"Wasn't it the... Fluffy Bunnies?" She asked, lightly gripping her chin in thought. Zack shook his head. "No, no, no. It was The Fuzzy Pandas." He corrected. "Tigers! It's the Tigers Team's Whale King! I was a big fan of theirs' when I was younger!" Bael announced, smiling at the memory. They were one of the best teams he'd ever seen in battle, whenever he would watch any battle broadcast, he'd try to catch battles with the Tigers Team. He remembered how hard they fell after one particular loss. It was a real shame. "Oh yeah, didn't they go on a giant losing streak?" Jill asked. She could vaguely remember them going downhill after losing a battle with some weird looking Liger.

"Yeah, and then they got on that lucky streak, it was hard to watch when they started losing again." Bael frowned. They were the reason that one of his favorite Zoids was the Saber Tiger. "Well guys, if you're done with your date, we still got somewhere to be." Zack reminded, continuing to walk toward the Battle Commission building. Jill and Bael both shot annoyed glares at him. What was up with him and those jokes? It was annoying. Still, he was right. They had to get to the building. Which, they soon found to be even more packed than the parking lot.

There were people by the hundred, all walking about and talking all at once. Bael and the others could barely hear themselves think. There were a lot of people entering the Grand Cup, that was for sure. "Alright, where's the big launch being held?" Zack asked, barely able to see over the other people with his short stature. Bael looked over at a map that was plastered across a nearby wall. "Somewhere around... There." Bael pointed to a specific corner of the map, the once marked as "stage". That was where they usually held these things, at least if he'd actually gotten the right information.

They pushed through the crowds, slowly taking in the sights as they waited the remaining twenty minutes until the official tournament's launch. There were many statues of Iconic Zoids from historic battles. Shield Ligers, A scale model of the first Lightning Saix ever built and a large shell from a massive weapon attached to an Ultrasaur. They even had the nose blade of the impossibly rare Zoid, the Geno Breaker. Dioramas of well-known battles in the old war. They had it all. The one thing they didn't seem to have was a Death Saurer. Eventually they made it to the area in front of the large and currently empty stage.

People stood around chatting about battle strategies, Zoids, and other things relating to the Grand Cup. It was still a few minutes until the big announcement started, but everyone was ready for it. People with pushing into a tighter and tighter crowd, and Zack couldn't see anything at all. Soon, someone began to walk toward the podium that stood front and center on the stage. "Hello Zoid warriors, welcome to the Grand Cup opening ceremony!" For some reason, most of the stage was dark. They could only really make out the fact that the announcer was wearing some fancy clothes.

In a bright and momentarily blinding flash, the stage was lit up by several large lights that hung above it. On the wall behind the announcer, a large mural was spread across the wall, a huge golden trophy and many Zoids scattered about, all in attacking poses. Except for the trophy. Trophies can't attack, because that would just be silly. "To tell you the rules of this competition are the winners of last year's grand Cup, the Giant Busters!" Jill's face lit up at this. Not in happiness, but in shock. She knew that name. Anger began to build it's way up through the pit of her stomach. It certainly didn't help when they walked up on stage.

She recognized every single one of those faces. Names came to mind as each of them entered her view. The short balding one who didn't seem to understand the fact that too much tanning can be bad for you was named Emile. The tall one with the black hair was Theos. He was just as '_Dashing'_ as ever. The one who brought up the back of the group was the one that made her blood boil. Blond hair, broad shoulders and that stupid little soul patch. He was Furma, the man who stole her team from her. "Welcome to the Zoids battle commission's sixth annual Grand Cup!" Theos announced over the microphone, grabbing everyone's undivided attention.

"We would like to say first of all, that every team here today has a chance at winning." He continued, prompting Jill to roll her eyes. They were going to butter everybody up with these false hopes. They didn't really care about everyone else here, they only cared about winning. They wouldn't have stopped letting her battle if they didn't. "With good strategy, and enough effort, anyone can succeed!" The crowd let out a deafening cheer. Jill couldn't stand it. "Now without further ado, here are the rules of the Grand Cup." He stepped away from the stand, back to the mural. It turned out that the mural was actually a giant screen, which faded into a new depiction. A standard tournament bracket.

"We have a staggering total of sixty-four teams entering. Because of the massive size of this tournament, we will be dividing the tournament into eight separate brackets." The small eight participant bracket on the screen began to split into copies of itself until' there were as many brackets as the teams in each of them. "After that, the eight remaining teams will be placed on one final bracket" He decreed, the screen on the wall reflecting his words, as bits of light representing the winning teams flew out of the top of their brackets, lighting up the bottom of one more eight entry bracket. "We will personally be joining you in this tournament, as you can see on the listings here." He pointed at the first bracket, they were placed at the furthest right of the farthest left branch.

Soon, other names began to flash on to the screen. It eventually flashed by the Scavenge Team's name, at the opposite end of the same bracket. Their opponents for the first round soon followed. It looked like they were fighting a team called 'The Huntsmen'. Bael believed that he had heard of them before, but he would have to look into that later. "And now for the special rules." Furma stepped up to chime in. "As with every Grand Cup, we have special battle types that you can participate in for more prize money." He noted, the illustration of a large money bag with Zoids pouring out of the top appeared on the screen.

A few words then blinked across the left side of the screen. _Grab Bag_, _Exchange_ and _One vs. On_e. "In a Grab Bag battle, your Zoids will be substituted with randomly selected Zoids from our own stock. The Exchange battle allows you swap out any member of your team for an available member of another team. One versus One should be self-explanatory. " He stated matter-of-factually. "The first battle of today will be us, The Giant Busters versus The Titans. Good luck everyone! We'll see you on the battlefield!" He ended, stepping back away from the podium. At this, the crowd erupted in conversation as everyone poured out of the area, marching on around the Scavenge Team.

The only reason Bael and Zack weren't leaving as well was Jill's frozen stance. She wasn't moving as people shoved past her. She stared at the stage, watching intently as her old team began to step down from their little platform. "Uh... Jill? Are you alright?" Bael's words snapped her out of her daze. She looked around, as if she wasn't aware of where she was. Then, she gritted her teeth. "Yep. A great big speech and not a mention of the girl who helped get them there." Jill turned around, looking at her team, a new fiery and angry determination in her eyes. "We need to win this thing just to shove it in their faces!" She proclaimed, quickly cupping her fist with her palm.

Her teammates took a moment to look at each-other before nodding at her. This angry confidence was quickly replaced by a slow chill down her spine as she heard some words she didn't want to hear. "Hey, do I know you?" Emile's voice crept over her shoulder like a cold hand. His voice was followed by Theos' "Yeah, didn't you used to get us water or something?" Theos asked. This little question was enough to bring back the rage that Bael had defused so much earlier that day. "Yeah, and win battles with you." Jill growled, turning around to face them. "Jill?" Theos was the first to ask.

Emile seemed to take a second to understand who he was referring to, before his eyes lit up at the memory. "Where you been, man?" Emile asked. Jill's eyebrow seemed to twitch. Emile quickly recoiled away from her as Jill's glare intensified. "GIRL! I mean girl. Where have you been, _Girl_." He quickly corrected himself. "Well good to see you actually noticed I was gone." She grumbled, crossing her arms. "So, you in the tourney?" Theos asked. Jill nodded. "Meet my new team. Bael, Zack, meet Theos and Emile." Bael knew Jill had a temper, but this seemed to be legitimate hatred. Maybe she was just overreacting though, they seemed like nice enough people. A greeting might clear things up a bit.

"Hi, name's Bael, I'm the leader of The Scavenge Team." Bael extended his arm for a handshake. Before Theos got his chance to return the offer, Jill smacked his hand away. "No fraternizing with the enemy!" She commanded, shooting a glare at them. "Jill?" Another voice came. This seemed to peak Jill's anger. "Furma." She growled, gritting her teeth even harder. "Never thought I'd see you again after you took off." He commented. "How's the bike been treating you?" He asked, laughing and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to count to three, and if your hand is still there-" Jill snapped, before Furma interrupted her. "Easy there, you see your team for the first time in, what has it been now?" He paused, grabbing his chin. "Two years now hasn't it?" He asked. "Thought you'd be happy to see us." He continued. Jill turned around, Bael was afraid that she'd chip a tooth if she kept gritting her teeth like that. "The nerve of some people." She grumbled, beginning to walk away. How dare he? _How __**DARE**__ he? _'Happy to see them?' They were lucky that none of them ended up with a fist buried in their faces. Bael and Zack quickly jogged up to catch up with her.

"So that was your team?" Bael asked, taking one quick glance over his shoulder to look back at them. "They didn't seem half bad to me." Jill quickly swung around and Bael shielded himself. "Didn't seem half bad? They treated me like a towel boy after _He _showed up!" Jill shot another glare at Furma. Bael very much preferred that she not get any more riled up before the battle. It would just throw her off. Lowering his arms, Bael nodded solemnly. "Then I guess we'll just have to beat them." He said with a smile, trying to brighten the mood. Jill seemed to calm down and continued walking back toward the entrance.

They still had some important things to do while they were here after all. For the next hour or so, they ran their Zoids through the regular gauntlet of tests that the Battle Commission had set up. Everyone had to do this eventually, so they figured it would be best to get it out of the way now. Their scores were on par, at best. Jill's shots seemed a little off, Zack's maneuvering needed some work, and Bael was a little too slow, even with his boosters. He assumed he must have done something wrong when he was working with Matt to fix it's legs. Or the thrusters. Or maybe the claws weren't getting enough friction. There were a million and one things he could blame it on, but it didn't matter.

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><p>They were set for their first battle of The Cup. They didn't have much time, the sun was setting and their battle would begin in a few hours. They only had a bit of time to swing by the Warehouse and eat. This was unfortunate, given that Bael wanted to look into their opponents for the battle, but time was wasting and their battle was quite a time away. The sun was gone by the time they reached Mt. Isolina. The Judge capsule had landed on a nearby ridge already when their Zoids entered the battlefield. "Huh. Night time battling. Looks like we'll have to trust our radars, our eyes aren't going to do much good under that tree cover." Jill commented, eyeing the shadows that the trees cast on the ground and each-other. "Battlemode 0982, The Scavenge Team vs. The Huntsmen Team." The Zoids all tensed up. "Ready? Fight!" They charged into the woods, disappearing into the shadows. The only blips on their radars were each-other, and the occasional tree that they grazed in the dark. "Okay, we're bumbling around like idiots, why can't we turn our lights on again?" Zack asked, his Gun Sniper stumbling sideways as it's arm smacked into a tree.<p>

"Because if we turn on our lights, we'll be the only source of light in the forest and easy targets for anyone far enough way." She sighed, sidestepping another tree. "Happened to a couple of Gordos I took on with the old team. They turned their lights on, and we opened fire from a distance. They never stood a chance." She smiled. That was one of the best memories that she had with that team. Had they not tossed her aside like a piece of trash, she might even call it a 'fond' memory. That was the best they were getting. Zack sighed. This wasn't even his Zoid's job to begin with. He should be outside the woods and firing in.

Not far from the team, lurking just out of eye-shot behind them, a lone Zoid slowly crept along. "Now seem good?" The pilot radioed to their leader. "The Sniper's impatient. Reveal yourself to him first." A reply sounded back. They could all see them clear as day with the thermal vision they had installed. The Zoids' pilot smiled, the games were about to begin. With a flip of a switch, the Zoid's armor started reflecting the radar waves as it normally would. Zack nearly had a heart attack when he finally caught a blip on the very edge of his radar. "About time." He smirked, turning his Zoid around. "Found one!" He called out, opening fire on the treeline with his Beam Gatling Guns.

His target quickly returned it's Zoid's armor to it's previous state, rushing forward to get out of the way of the Sniper's fire. Jill and Bael turned around to see the flurry of gunfire, the flashes from the guns' cannons lighting the Gun Sniper up for short bursts of time. "Zack! Cut it out!" Jill yelled to him. "Are you trying to give away our position?" She continued, prompting the Sniper's Weapons to slowly stop their assault. For a brief moment, one could see the pillars of smoke trailing up from the guns before the darkness enveloped them once more. "I saw something on my radar, very edge. I probably got it." He commented, beginning to walk to the mess of now fallen and hole-ridden trees.

"Then why didn't we see it?" She questioned further, her Command Wolf's growl reflecting her irritation. "It was on the edge of the radar. I saw my chance and I took it." He flicked on his lights to scan the area. "Now they're one Zoid dow-" He cut himself off as he looked at the area ahead of him. A lot of wreckage from the trees, but not a lot in the way of Zoids. No bits of armor, no tracks, no Zoid itself. "And now they know where we are." Jill's palm rushed up to meet her face. "Relax, we're gonna be fi-" This time something else interrupted Zack, and that something else was a flurry of laser rounds tearing into the side of his Zoid's leg. With some quick reflexes, he locked the Sniper's foot anchors into the ground, keeping it stable.

He quickly turned the Zoid's body and began firing in the attacker's general direction. "Where did that come from? It's not just me right? There was nothing on the radar." He yelled over the Gatling Guns' fire. Jill shook her head. "Nothing. They must have some sort of radar disruption tech. I'm not getting anything either." She decided that their enemies clearly had their positions now and it wouldn't make sense to leave the lights off at this point. All she could see once they lit up the treeline were wayward Beam rounds flying into some trees. "Zack, save your ammo, you're not hitting anything." She commanded. With a groan of frustration, Zack released his grip on the triggers.

"So, if they've got radar disruption devices, you think they're using Helcats?" Jill questioned, keeping her eyes peeled for any movement. Bael thought about it. Helcats didn't have the kind of firepower that he'd just seen. The ones that could shoot like that were nowhere near as fast as whatever had attacked... Something clicked in his mind. "Oh... This is bad." He mumbled. "What was that?" Jill asked, barely able to hear him. "I remember who we're fighting now. The Huntsmen team. Why are we fighting them? They're an A-rank team!" He quickly switched his own lights on, scanning the treeline for any hint of motion.

"What?! How is that even fair?" Zack asked, his Zoid struggling to simply turn around. "It's probably because we were late. They probably had to stick us in with the last team available." She shot a glare toward the Blade Liger. "So you're saying it's my fault?" Bael shot back. "Maybe I am!" The two began to argue, much to the pleasure of the Shadow Fox that lurked just out of sight. "Divide and conquer..." The pilot's grin was wide as could be. "Finish the Sniper off while they're bickering." They commanded. The Fox at it's side charged around to the left side of the Gun Sniper, while the other ran to the right.

Jill was about to voice another unsavory observation about Bael's intelligence when another wave of shots tore into the sides of the Gun Sniper. In a few seconds, the Zoid collapsed, it's legs being far too damaged to support it's own weight. "Well just great you two! Nice backup you gave me, I'm sure my frozen combat system shows how high team morale is right now." Zack whined, letting his head fall back into his seat. Bael and Jill ignored him and took aim at his immediate right and left. "Strike Laser Claw!" A voice boomed behind them.

The Blade Liger swung around just in time to jump out of the way of the glowing blur that was the Shadow Fox's attack. Just as quickly as it landed, it bounded back into the shadows. He tried to turn back around in time to get a shot at it, but it was gone long before it even raised it's foot. 'They aren't going to show themselves unless they think they can pull off an attack...' Jill pondered to herself as their Zoids patrolled their small section of open woods. "Okay, I've got an idea. You remembered to reload my smokescreen right?" Bael nodded to her. "Alright, here's hoping they have thermal!"

She flicked a small switch on the Command Wolf's control pad, releasing a great wave of thick black smoke from under the Zoid's shoulders and flanks. "Alright here's the plan." She radioed to him, putting on a sly smile. "The smoke is making them see a wall of cold colors. Use the Liger's heat vents to give them a target to shoot at." She paused, mouthing something toward him quietly. 'Don't listen to this part' She seemed to say. "When you do, move up and shoot wherever the shots come from." The sound of this brought a smile to their rival team's collective faces. They'd heard of this before.

It was used in the past in both the war, and normal Zoid battles. It had even been used against them before. They predicted this, and watched their thermals carefully. The bright red and yellow silhouette of a Blade Liger overpowered the cold veil surrounding it. Their Laser Vulcan cannons turned and took aim ahead of the slowly fading shape of the Zoid. The loud snap of the Alpha pilot's fingers and the armor piercing rounds fell like a hard hail on... Nothing at all? There was no clear impact, the smoke was broken up and there was no Liger to be seen. To one of the Shadow Foxes, this was followed by a firm blast from a Long-Range Cannon.

It flinched as the pilot was jolted by the shock. "How-" She grunted, being pelted yet again by a pair of Pulse Laser shots. The Huntsmen's remaining team members shared an incredible surprise as they watched the Shadow Fox's combat system freeze. "You're gonna pay for that!" One of the pilots announced, firing wildly into the smokescreen in a sweeping pattern. "Stop you idiot!" Their leader ordered, for the first time speaking from the Zoid's own intercom. The shroud of black was brushed away by the gunfire, revealing the Liger safely behind it's energy shield. The Command Wolf leaped from it's hiding spot behind it and opened fire at the impulsive pilot.

Unfortunately, he'd seemed to come to his senses, bounding out of the way and back into the cover of darkness, changing the victom of the attack to a tree that had stood behind it. "One for one." Jill couldn't believe that had actually worked. She was taking a shot in the dark when she assumed they'd know about that strategy. She took an even bigger shot in the dark in guessing that they'd been intercepting their radio signals. "Alright Bael, now we just have t-" She was cut off by another much louder voice. "Strike Laser Claw!" In a quick flash of glowing yellow, the Shadow Fox's claw collided with the Command Wolf's side, causing the mechanical canine to hit the forest's floor.

The Blade Liger was quick to turn and try to gun the nimble Fox down, but it quickly sprang away, a few small pieces of the Command Wolf's armor falling from it's claws. "Oh well that's just great!" Jill yelled, frantically pulling at the Wolf's controls. "Bael. If we lose this I'm blaming you!" Bael's head cocked over to Jill's video feed. "What? Why!?" While he was asking her why she would be blaming him, he was subconsciously asking why she had to get angry about everything. Every little thing set her off and it was getting on his nerves. "Because we wouldn't be fighting an A-rank team if we had just showed up earlier! This whole day had just been fight after fight over stupid trivial... Things...

An idea had just popped into Bael's mind and he was quick to put some distance between himself and the Command Wolf, the Shadow Foxes were no doubt keeping up from beyond his line of sight. Divide and conquer. That was how they took their opponents down. Maybe it was time to get a taste of their own medicine. "Wow, I sure am alone and helpless out here. It would be a shame if someone where to attack me." He knew they were too smart for that, but he had to build things up. "But I'm sure you're just waiting. Waiting for the right moment, right?" He called out over the Liger's built-in intercom. "Seems your coordination wasn't as good today though, yeah? Such insubordination, you need a better handle on your team." He began laughing. "But then, who really needs to listen? I bet you've had plenty of chances and you were just held back by your boss." He paused, waiting for a reaction. As expected, it came. "You shut your mouth about the boss!" A male voice called out.

The panels around the Liger's head extended, just in time to halt the shining claw of the Shadow Fox that had pounced from his right. The Zoid's attack was pushed back, and the Fox itself was reflected away. The agile Zoid's Laser Vulcan gun was crushed between itself in a tree. The Zoid swiftly righted itself, landing on it's feet and making a slow bound back into the treeline, sparks violently exploding from it's front right leg. Bael hoped that he had done enough damage with that, because his shield had just run out of energy. Meanwhile, The Huntsmen Team's leader was quick to berate his teammate. "Why would you go off like that? We've got a system and it works!" He questioned, very obviously angry. "I'm sorry sir. I just..." He began, but his apology for his actions was cut short when a Double Barreled Shock Cannon unleashed it's firepower on the Fox's side. It was thrown to the ground, two large holes in what would have been the Zoid's rib-cage.

This, coupled with it's leg and weapon damage, caused it's combat system to shut down. "You guys should probably remember to turn off your microphones." Bael commented, a trail of smoke streaming up around the Liger's face from the cannons on the Zoid's chest. Before he could give the final Fox a chance to react, he raised the Liger's Blades and began to shoot at it with it's Pulse Laser Canons. It's target was still too fast, disappearing into the cover of darkness once again. This time however, Bael didn't need to worry about the Fox's pack coming to stop him, he pursued. The Blade Liger was well behind his target and nowhere near as agile, continuously grazing trees with the sides of his Zoid's legs.

He was beginning to get sick of this when his opponent finally made a move. The panels on the Shadow Fox's tail opened up and it launched a small tube toward the Liger. Bael quickly raised his Zoid's Rocket Boosters, turning them to the left to dodge the large electrical net that burst from the capsule. "Strike Laser Claw!" A voice called out. The Liger's head turned and it leaped to the side just in time to avoid a strike from the Zoid's deadly attack. Acting on pure instinct, he proceeded to duck, dodging a flurry of armor piercing rounds from the Fox's Vulcan Cannon. Before the pilot could aim down, Bael took his big chance. This was it. He leaped once again to the side, this time toward his attacker. There was a great impact as the much heavier Zoid's shoulder slammed into the light-weighted Fox. It was quickly thrown to the ground, it's Cannon snapping clean off of it's back. The Liger turned, lowering it's Blade to aim it's Pulse Cannon at the Fox's chest. One swift blast was the final push that the Fox needed. It's combat system froze.

The Judge sounded the siren over the battlefield. "Battle over! Battle over! The winner is..." It raised it's left arm. "The Scavenge Team!" The adrenaline in Bael's veins began to fade. He was taking short and heavy breaths. panting. He was actually panting. Bael had just been pulling on some controls, flicking switches and pressing buttons but he was so... Pumped! It was so much like his last battle but this... This was so... So... Quick! Everything came down to who thought faster and Bael had been thinking like a machine. He noticed that his hands were still tightly curled into fists around the Liger's controls. "That was incredible!" A voice came from outside the Liger. Bael stood up, unlocking his Zoid's translucent orange canopy.

Down below, the Pilot of the Shadow Fox had climbed out of the limp wreck of his Zoid and was now standing at the foot of the Blade Liger. "I haven't had to fight someone one on one like that in years!" His laugh bellowed loudly. "Thanks, I can't believe my second battle went so well!" Bael's words stung like a wasp in the pilot's ears. "Second... Battle?" His team, his _well oiled_ instrument of victory had just lost to a rookie? It was inconceivable! He wanted to scream, he wanted to weep, he wanted to punch something, but his body's reaction to the conflicting signals was to fall over, back-first into the dirt.

"I think I'm going to retire." He groaned in disappointment. "Does that mean I can take your Fox? A newer model Zoid like that would sell pretty well!" Bael chirped, a lot more cheerful about the idea than his opposing pilot. The man raised his finger to say to say something, but he instead let it drop back to the comparatively comfortable soil beneath him. "Sure, whatever." He waved Bael off. The Command Wolf slowly began to limp into Bael's view. "I can't believe you pulled that off Bael!" Jill's voice was not as much of cheer, as much as it was legitimate surprise at his success. "You're not half bad. I think there's hope for this team yet!" She commented, happy to know that they were one round closer to dragging her old team through the dirt.

It was a few hours later that Bael returned with the Gustav, spare trailers in tow. In the back-most trailer, the Dark Horn he had been transporting earlier lay. He searched the forest for quite some time, losing hours that he could have used on sleeping trying to find the wrecked Shadow Fox. Although obvious footprints trailed away from the site of the first fox that they had taken down, there were very different tracks trailing away from where the other two Zoids had gone down. They looked like they were from some kind of tank. Maybe the Huntsmen Team had changed their minds? He felt he had wasted the trip, but at least he had something to show for it. Everything had gone better than expected.

_**Beep**_

"Bael!"

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><p>"Sir, we have acquired the Shadow Foxes as requested." A man stood before the crumpled heap of the two Shadow Foxes that had fallen in a battle earlier that night. They were both sitting on a platform attached the tail of a modified Gordos, it's legs replaced with tank-like treads. "Good. I trust the Lightning Saix has been prepared?" The taller man before him asked, overlooking a slowly moving production line. It was steadily producing devices that resembled a trio of energy shield generators. "Yes sir, the Leg work and thrusters are all we need to complete the Coyote." The shorter man nodded. "Good. As soon as it's ready, we'll put it through a field test." A small smile crossed his face. "I know just the team." To his left stood a small monitor, playing a loop of footage from several Zoids battles. A Command Wolf firing upward toward the camera. A Blade Liger sliding sideways into an odd purple thread, connected to a distant Rev Raptor. A low angled shot of the same Liger in a quick duel of with with a Shadow Fox before the latter collides with the camera. "Soon The Battle Commission will fall, and the Backdraft group will regret sweeping us under the rug!"<p>

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><p><em><strong>I felt like I kind of rushed it toward the end there. Sorry about that. Well, here we are again, another year past and just one chapter to show for it. I'm done with deadlines, those just make me give up when I fail to meet them. I'm sorry about the wait, and I hope you'll still stick around for the next set of chapters. Now here's a fact, I have removed a total of 3 planned chapters of this story, one involving a battle with the Flugel team, and another about Zack losing his sniping skills. The last involved a battle taking the team past Jill's old home town. Two of these were intended to go before this chapter, and were removed respectively because 1: I'm not quite prepared to work with canon characters yet, and 2: I wanted to get right to the Grand Cup, being the important plotpoint it is, I didn't want to just ignore it for two chapters. Thanks for reading, feel free to review if you want, wanna know whether I suck or not. So yeah.<strong>_

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><p>"<em>How could a Lightning Saix turn like that?"<em>

"_It looks more like another Shadow Fox!"_

"_I've never seen a Zoid like this before!"_

"_Who are these Chimera guys anyway?"_

"_Next time on Zoids, The Mysterious Zoid; The Coyote Attacks! See you on the battlefield!"_


	4. The Mysterious Zoid The Coyote Attacks!

_**Zoids: Tales of the Scavenge team.**_

_**Chapter 4: The Mysterious Zoid; The Coyote Attacks!**_

_**Chapter 4 and it's done before the second quarter. Cheers! Hope the pretty rushed ending to chapter 3 didn't put you off. Also, did I mention the bracket? I'm not sure if I mentioned that enough times last chapter. I mean, I only said it 10 times in two paragraphs. I also hope you excuse the shorter length of this chapter, I wanted to get it done sooner, so I cut it down a little. All that aside, enjoy or dislike this chapter at your leisure, maybe pop a review on down there if you want.**_

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><p><em>A Lightning Saix stood at the base of a long and winding canyon. It's pilot impatiently tapped his foot. "I know you're the scientists here." He began, outstretching his Zoid's claws. "But I seriously doubt that you've built something that can out-speed the Saix. At least on foot anyways." The recently hired pilot commented, leaning back in his seat. A voice boomed down from above him as a pair of Pteras descended with a large Zoid container precariously held by two sets of long threads of steel twine. "We'll just have to see about that, now won't we?" The voice was very commanding, and the pilot recognized it as the voice of the man who had hired him. The Pteras released their cumbersome load as it finally made contact with the ground. <em>

_The pilot looked the container over. It seemed just large enough to store a medium sized Zoid. The front of the container fell forward, hitting the ground with a resounding clang. There was a short moment of silent anticipation from the pilot. He wondered what type of souped up speed-demon of a Zoid he was going to be racing. Probably some sort of... He could hear something collide with the surface of the container's metal floor. Again. Again. They were footsteps from whatever he'd be racing. It came out slowly. The head was narrow, it looked like a cross between a Command Wolf and a Shadow Fox, with all the streamlined smoothness of a Lightning Saix. He noticed that it was somewhat smaller than his own Zoid. _

_The next thing that came into view was the end of the Zoid's weapon. The twin barrels were quite reminiscent of his Saix' own, however, as the Zoid trotted on it became apparent that it's weapon was more solidly grafted to the Zoid's back. On the sides there were long rows of multiple fins that slowly raised and lowered, occasionally turning up or down. At the very back there was the familiar sight of two longer fins for downward force while running. It's torso and legs carried much the same story as it's head. Sleek. Upon closer inspection, one could see that it's front legs were like small replicas of those of a Lightning Saix, with longer claws adoring it's feet. It's hind legs were different however, as they had a deal more bulk to them, and were slightly less sleek. _

_He also noticed that there were some kind of boosters at the tops of it's hind legs. It's tail was not as long as one would expect from a similarly sized Zoid, instead being horizontally flat at the very ends and very short. "Now remember, your only goal is to run. Don't stop unless your Zoid is unable to continue." Came that same voice from above once again. The pilot brought his Lightning Saix up to stand side-by-side with the strange Zoid. "Got'cha." He sighed. This was probably going to be boring. You can't just strap Lightning Saix parts on any old Zoid and expect it to perform the same way. "We're starting out easy, no boosters until we know you can keep up." The voice ended, the Preras began to ascend from the canyon, flying along off to some point further ahead._

_Without any clear command, the strange new Zoid began to walk forward, catching the pilot off guard. He quickly brought his Lightning Saix up to speed. The two Zoids walked side-by-side, their speeds slowly beginning to rise until they were both running. The pilot was impressed. Even in a run this little Zoid was keeping up. It hadn't fallen behind at all. Just up ahead of them, a very hard right turn came into view. 'A turn? I thought this was going to be a straight shot down the canyon.' The hired pilot thought to himself. He began to slow down to make the turn easier, while the new Zoid didn't break stride. The pilot watched on as the sleek little Zoid pulled into a sharp turn, it's left rear booster firing on. He turned more softly as he reached this point, and watched the Zoid speed on ahead of him. _

"_Cocky little..." He growled. He was not about to let this thing out-perform his Saix! He got back up to speed quickly, engaging his boosters. In a flash he was next to his competitor, who seemed to have engaged it's own boosters. They were keeping pace with each-other easily, right up to the point of the next turn. This turn was to the left, and based on the Lightning Saix' radar, it was basically a u-turn. There was no way that either of their Zoids could pull that off, but he was not slowing down. The rear thrusters on the mysterious new Zoid fired up, bringing it ahead of the Lightning Saix quickly. The pilot would have become angry that something just outran his Zoid, but he was more amazed at what the Zoid did next. It pulled up to a slight incline that lead up the wall and began to swiftly climb it. "No way..." The pilot's voice couldn't seem to raise above his own breat as he watched the Zoid transition from the incline to the wall itself. It was effectively running sideways. The distant shape of the Zoid ahead of him continued to run forward, completing the turn and according to his radar, returning to the canyon floor. _

"_Well if this thing can do it..." He considered, approaching the incline himself. "So can I." He ran up the incline, very easily slowed by the odd angle. When the Zoid's front leg touched the canyon wall, the Lightning Saix lost it's footing and immediately tumbled out of control before colliding with the wall ahead. The impact of the crash rendered the pilot unconscious. A Pteras descended from the cliffs above. "We thank you for the assistance." He radioed in, despite knowing that it was falling on deaf ears. "The Dune Coyote is ready for it's big debut." _

* * *

><p>"Alright, that ought to do it." Bael commented, wiping away the sweat that had formed on his forehead. He stepped back to appreciate his work. The Gun Sniper's leg shined beautifully, all signs of the previous damage completely gone. "So can she walk again?" Zack called up from below the lift. "She'll do more than walk, I've improved the shock absorbers in both of the legs!" Bael called down to him, pressing the button to bring his platform back down to the ground level. "Now don't have to worry about as much recoil when you take a shot." He was quite proud of his work. "Which is good because we've got another battle coming up." He stepped down from his maintenance lift, taking a quick look over at the Command Wolf. It shined like it was fresh off the line. The sunlight that shone in through the hole in the roof added that extra gleam to it. That reminded him, he should probably get to work on fixing that before the next time it rained.<p>

"Already? Wow, The Cup doesn't let up." Zack was surprised. Then he paused for a moment. "Hehe. Cup, up." He laughed, appreciating his rhyme. "No, this is a standard battle, outside of The Cup." Bael replied, walking to the Command Wolf and assessing his earlier repairs on it's side. "Wait, What?" Zack yelled. "We're still taking on other battles?" They'd be battling every other day if that were true! "Well yeah, since my last two big repair jobs were stolen, my business isn't exactly raking in the cash. I need more income if I want the Warehouse to keep afloat." Bael answered. He had sunken a lot of money into the Geno Saurer and the Saber Tiger, then he had to make repairs to the Command Wolf as well, he barely had what he needed to fix the Zoids after the last battle. He made a quick note that he should reload the Wolf's smoke emitters later.

That also reminded him. He should probably tell Jill about the battle. She'd been back in the city when they received the summons. She was fetching the remainder of her old belongings from her old apartment that she'd left behind when she came to live at the Warehouse. When Bael returned to their little base of operations beyond that door at the far wall, Jill sat on the couch in front of the screen. She had the table pulled up to herself and she was scribbling away at several large pieces of paper that were scattered all around her. There were all kinds of lines and letters all over them. "B", "Z", "J', and then a trio of "CW"s on most. "What'cha working on?" Bael asked, causing Jill to jump in terror from the unexpected voice. She then shot a glare at Bael. "Never..." She began with a gaze that could send a Gojulas running. "And I mean _NEVER_ do that again."

Jill started to calm down, trying to regain her composure. "If you had asked quietly the first time, you'd know that I'm planning for the battle." She lifted up one particular sheet of paper. "I've already looked up our opponents. Apparently they favor singling one target out and focusing on it until it goes down, then moving on to the next one; A classic strategy." She pointed it out on her chart. Lines lead on ahead of the CWs, all ending around the letter Z. "So let's say that they single out Zack." She pointed to the Z. "You could easily use your shield to make a quick loop around and knock them down while I land the finishing shots." A line came out of the B and went in a circle around the Z, while a tiny dotted line pointed from the J to the CWs.

"And that's how we'd win in that situation." She smiled to herself, proud of her strategies. "I'll be explaining the other plans on the way to the battlefield, how long do we have again?" She asked, rolling all of her charts up and stuffing them into a satchel. Bael took a moment to take all of that in. For one, she already knew about the battle without him having to tell her. Secondly, he couldn't believe that she'd thought up this many strategies this quickly afterward. "A couple of hours, though it's not that far." Bael answered, beginning to make his way back to the Zoids. "We could make it in just one if we don't take the Gustav." The Gustav's sleeper system was one of Bael's proudest accomplishments. He had to build, program, troubleshoot and re-code it from scratch and it worked surprisingly well. However, the image of a giant out of control bug-shaped tank crashing into a pile of debris and destroying a certain someone's motorcycle came to Jill's mind. "We're driving." She made abundantly clear as she followed behind Bael.

* * *

><p>Bael smiled as he watched the desert go by. The ride was one of the most peaceful he'd ever had. He knew the path he was following well. He'd come down this very stretch of sand in the opposite direction what seemed like such a long time ago. Bael's childhood home was quite a ways away, but he remembered passing through here when his father first showed him his little repair business. Back then it actually had employees and work hours and clients. Bael inherited- well, took the warehouse as his own after business went south and his father left it behind. He knew he could turn it around if he just kept trying. Speaking of which, he noticed what looked to be the remnants of a Stealth Viper jutting from a dune.<p>

"Bael, what are you doing?" Jill asked, watching on as he tapped a few buttons on the control panel and opened the Gustav's canopy. "Just marking a target." He answered, reaching under the seat. From beneath, he pulled a large... It looked like some kind of gun, but neither Jill nor Zack were entirely sure what kind. From one end, there was a harpoon-shaped object sticking out, while the other seemed to lightly flash green. "These are my special markers, I can use them to find wrecks I can't pick up at the moment. I've got a few loaded on the Liger. You know, just in case." Bael pulled the trigger, loosing the metal rod toward the towering hill of sand that contained the Zoid wreck. "Always pays to be prepared." He sat back down, returning the canopy to it's former position.

"We should have probably gone in the Zoids though, we're going to just barely make it in time." Bael commented, watching the clock on the Gustav's dashboard click away toward the next hour. A few minutes away from the battle, they left the Gustav behind to approach the battlefield. It was practically a maze of rock formations down in a small valley. It appeared to be a large number of dividing canyons. Up ahead, they could see the Judge capsule sitting atop one of them. A cloud of smoke bellowed up from where the Judge would normally stand. Something was definitely not right. "What happened here?" Bael asked, watching a pair of other smokey pillars raise from beyond the battlefield's several entrances. "It doesn't look good, that's for sure." Zack answered. A sound of loud metal footfalls echoed through the canyon's walls as a sandy-tan colored Command Wolf limped out from on entrance.

"Hey, are you alright?" Bael ran to the Zoid, his teammates following closely behind. "I've... Never... A Zoid shouldn't be able to..." The pilot choked out over the radio. "It was so fast..." He grunted. Without warning, a large explosion erupted from the Wolf's hind leg. As the dust cleared, Bael caught a glimpse of something disappearing behind a distant canyon wall. "Guys, did you see that?" He called out. "No Bael, the two of us missed the explosion." Jill sarcastically called back. "No, he's right. Something is moving in that maze." Zack spoke up, watching a blip move along the edge of his Sniper's Radar. "Whatever it is, it's moving pretty fast." The team all silently considered what they should do. "A Judge is down, the Battle Commission's probably on their way. We should wait here." Bael suggested.

Jill shook her head. "There could be more people hurt in there, they might not make it if we just wait around!" For the first time in Zack's short time with the team, he could hear legitimate concern in Jill's voice. "And besides, they'll be needing repairs on those Command Wolves. That's easy money, man." Zack noted. "Is that all you think about? Where your next big score will be?" Jill asked, her tone returning to that familiar disdain for him. "I'm trying to help your case!" Zack yelled back. Bael tuned out their argument. He found himself doing that a lot lately. Both of their points were pretty valid, although Jill's was clearly the more-so. It was probably for the best that they go in and try to help. "I bet you didn't even know we'd be battling in a canyon! Your plans are lame!" Zack's voice came back to him.

Bael ignored it and began to enter the canyon, effectively snapping the two of them out of their argument. "Zack, I need you to go around to the top of the canyon and try to find the middle of the maze." He ordered. "Aye aye, captain." Zack replied. "You're our eyes, make sure we know where that Zoid is. Jill, you come with me." He continued. "And I thought I was team strategist." Jill commented, following beside him. "Oh, I see, you two need some alone ti-" Zack was quickly silenced when the Command Wolf shot at the Gun Sniper's feet. "Another jab like that and _you'll _be the one who gets alone time." Jill growled. "Yes Ma'am!" Zack squeaked, making his way around to the upper areas of the canyon.

The Blade Liger walked along through the almost cramped canyon walls. "So, what did it look like?" Jill asked. Bael scratched his head. "I only got a glimpse of it. Looked like some kind of... Shadow Fox, maybe?" He began to think to himself. "I don't know. Something didn't look right about it." The two reached the split in the canyon, finding nothing to show from the mysterious Zoid... Except maybe some tracks. Bael scanned the ground carefully, as did Jill. "Hey, look at this." She snapped an image of the footprints that she spotted. A moment later, the picture was in the middle of the Blade Liger's heads-up display. "They look like... Well, some of them look kind of like Lightning Saix' tracks, but those other ones look completely different." He considered the images further. "But a Lightning Saix would leave deeper tracks, whatever left these was a lot lighter." His train of thought was broken by the loud pop of radio static. "Heads up lovebirds, whatever that thing is is coming back around!" Zack yelled, a little too loudly one might add. The two turned around to face whatever was coming toward them, but all they could catch was a blur shooting over their heads. They turned again just in time to see the tail end of something disappear around a bend in the canyon.

They quickly took up pursuit of the Zoid, but they couldn't even compare to it's speed. As they reached the wall and turned to continue their chase, they found the Zoid to be nothing more than a distant shape as it turned another corner at the opposite end of the canyon. "I've never seen a Zoid move like that before..." Jill said in awe. In all her years, there was not Zoid on Zi that could run that fast, turn that well, and maintain it's speed while doing it. Bael simply wondered what the pilot's motivations were. What was the point in wiping out their opponents? Then there was the Judge tower, he couldn't discern a good reason as to why. "Guys, I've got a problem up here." Zack's voice came over their radios. "That Zoid is up here with me!" He yelled before ending his transmission. Above them, they could hear the sound of the Gun Sniper shooting at something. It sounded like it was launching all of it's weapons at once. This was followed by a series of explosions and ultimately a loud crash. "Zack? You all right up there?" Bael called out. No response. "Zack?" He repeated. Again, no answer.

They looked up in anticipation, knowing that the Zoid could strike at any moment. Without warning, the Zoid came down from behind the Blade Liger, it's claws tearing through it's upper energy shield generators like they were nothing. The two did not make the same mistake twice, they didn't try to turn and face it, they continued looking forward. As the Zoid came down, they unleashed as much firepower as they could in the Zoid's direction. Before them, a massive cloud of dust loomed. The two pilots kept their weapons trained, they could tell by their radars that the battle was not yet over. As the dust settled, the Zoid stood before them, a radiant blue energy shield surrounding it.

The odd thing about it was how the shield seemed to function. The Zoid's ears had split into two different sections, one pair made up of the inner ears, while the others were made from the outside. They each pointed in 4 different directions, a strange blue beam of light emanating from the tips. They each met with part of the canyon wall, forming a large "X" shape in front of the Zoid. As the ear panels slotted back into place, the shield did something strange. Instead of dissipating as it normally would, it seemed to stretch out, creating a large energy-based wall. The Zoid turned and ran, once again escaping from their sight around a corner. "This is new..." Jill commented, not sure of how to react to this strange wall. "So they're trying to block us in." Bael commented, extending one of the Liger's blades forward. "Well, without a power source, they aren't going to stand up for very l-" Bael paused as he pulled the trigger.

Nothing. He tried the shock cannons. Nothing again. "Uh oh." He mumbled, unfortunately, not quite quietly enough that Jill couldn't hear it. "'Uh oh'? Why 'Uh oh', Bael?" Jill asked. Bael laughed nervously, knowing what would come as soon as he answered. "I may have kinda... Sorta... Forgotten to reload all of the weapons since last battle..." He sped up at the end, bracing his ears for the berating that he was about to receive, which he promptly did. "You did what!? You knew we had a battle coming up! Why didn't you reload everything?" She yelled, very loudly. "I was so busy fixing the Gun Sniper's leg that I guess I forgot..." Bael squeaked. Jill sighed, they were in a battle, she remembered what happened last time they argued during a battle and tried to calm down. "I'm down to one shot, I'll have to make it count." She noted. Bael turned around, they would have to to resume their chase from another angle. Jill however stood staring at the shield. "You alright back there? We need to get moving before it circles around and blocks us in." He reminded, but Jill stood locked in thought.

'_That Zoid is incredibly fast, maybe faster than a Lightning Saix and it can turn on a dime..._' She thought. An idea came to mind. Not a lot of pilots could control a Zoid that fast, even fewer would be able to remain conscious while going through those turns at that speed. She reached into her satchel, removing a map of the area. Her eyes narrowed in on the longest, thinnest stretch of canyon. "Bael, you said you had those marking rod things on the Liger, right?" She asked. Bael nodded, pressing a few buttons on the Liger's console. A small device rose from the side of the Blade Liger, detaching the Beam Cannons that ran up the back of the blades and quickly replacing them with something better resembling a pair of harpoon guns. "Alright, we're going to need to perform a little test. Keep one of those things ready." She ordered, turning and moving to catch up with the Liger. The two Zoids were now in a sprint, Bael desperately trying to turn when Jill did. "I've got a blip on the radar, it's coming up from behind us!" Jill announced, turning to face the oncoming Zoid. Bael followed suit.

"Bael, fire one of those things at it, but don't aim directly at it." Jill commanded. Bael did just that, firing slightly to the left of the Zoid's feet. It didn't even flinch, it continued it's charge. "That Zoid knew that shot wouldn't hit it, it's got a sleeper system!" She was right in her assumption, it didn't have a pilot at all! It hadn't been trying to block them in with that shield, it was outfitted with some tech that made it look like that. "Bael, back into that canyon over there, I've got a plan!" The Zoid was moving fast and they didn't have a lot of time to get into position before it turned the corner. Jill watched the Zoid, it lingered for a moment at the entrance before approaching them. Soon, it began to pick up spreed, rapidly charging toward the Command Wolf. "Aim high, Bael." Jill spoke up, training her Long-range Cannon on the oncoming Zoid.

"Now!" She called out. She fired her cannon at the Zoid, since it couldn't maneuver to the side, it was forced to leap into the air instead. As it did, Bael fired his remaining harpoon. The Zoid shifted in the air, angling itself back down toward the ground just in time to avoid the shot. "Hit it Bael!" Jill practically roared as the Command Wolf turned it's head. Just before the Zoid touched down, the Liger leaped forward, claws outstretched. The strange Zoid had no chance to avoid the swift pounce and found itself pinned beneath the Liger's claws. Bael raised the Liger's paw into the air, bringing it's claws down hard against the Zoid's light frame, almost immediately ending it's struggle. He stepped back, finally getting a good look at the Zoid, despite the four massive gashes left in it's side.

"Whoa..." Bael could now see this Zoid's characteristics. It looked almost like someone had forced a Lightning Saix core to grow into the frame of a Shadow Fox. He wanted to look the Zoid over in more detail, but the Zoid's body violently jerked upward, leaving him too surprised to properly react. Before he knew what was going on, a cable descended from above and hooked up to the Zoid. Above them was a darkly colored Pteras that quickly rose above the canyon walls. "On behalf of Chimera Innovators, I'd like to thank you for your cooperation in our little field test." Came a loud voice from the Pteras' megaphone. "We'll be back to test some more of our fabulous products." The voice spoke as if it were an advertisement, with a hint of amusement behind it. The Pteras disappeared over the wall with the Zoid in toe just as soon as it had arrived, leaving The Scavenge Team confused about just who these people were, and what it was that they wanted with them.

* * *

><p>"A mysterious Zoid wiped out your opponents and one of our Judges?" A Battle Commission officer asked. "Yes sir, we managed to defeat it, but a Pteras showed up and carried it off." Bael answered. "The pilot said something about '<em>Chimera Innovators<em>'" He continued. Another man came running to them, giving a quick salute to the officer in charge. "Sir, the other team have confirmed that an unidentified Zoid attacked the Judge capsule before moving on to destroy their Zoids." The lower ranked officer announced. The man before Bael lightly grippd his own chin. "Unidentified Zoid..." He thought aloud. "The last time that happened... No, they disbanded a few years ago..." He spoke in a hushed voice to himself. "I guess we're lucky that such a competent team was on the scene so soon." He assured Bael, waving him off to return to his team and his Zoid.

"You three go back home, your opponents have chosen to forfeit rather than schedule a rematch, we'll look into this unidentified Zoid matter further." He turned back to their Ultrasaur, considering the implications of what had just transpired. Could the Backdraft Group have pulled itself back together, or were they dealing with a new threat? There were many members of the Backdraft's Research and Development department still at large...

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hope you had an enjoyable winter holiday of your choice last year! Here's another story fact because I can't think of much to say here: I noticed something funny. Bael's last name is Comet. Bit's last name is Cloud. Meaning that they have the same initials, which was completely unintentional. I just wanted to hold the theme of "Things in the air" for protagonist's last names. Flyheight, Cloud. I thought the next logical step was Comet, because Meteor sounded too flashy. Hope you enjoyed the chapter but I accept that you may not have. Thanks for putting up with my slow writing, and see you whenever the next chapter gets out!<strong>_

_"Commoners can be so stubborn."_

"_I've told you once before and my answer is the same. I don't have your Geno Saurer."_

"_I guess I'll humor you. A Zoid battle, if you win you can have a Zoid from my stock." _

"_But if I win... I want that red Command Wolf of yours." _

"_Next time on Zoids, Jill's Zoid; Command Wolf On the Line. I'll see you on the battlefield." _


End file.
